East Slopes Central

With slightly cooler temperatures and cloudier skies, conditions will be generally safe on Monday. By and large, wet snow avalanches have run their course. However, if the sun does begin to shine and you start to punch deeply through the snowpack, consider finding colder, shaded aspects to recreate on.

The East Central zone will experience the beginnings of a cooling trend on Monday. Temperatures won't be cold exactly, but they won't be as spring-like as they were last week. A dusting of new snow might even grace upper and middle elevations as freezing levels hover around 5000-5500 ft. We no longer expect wet snow problems to be an issue worthy of a listed avalanche problem. However, if you are traveling around and the sun pokes through, south-facing aspects will start to deteriorate again at middle and lower elevations. If you find yourself moving through wet, sloppy snow, avoid lingering on steep slopes of similar aspects and under terrain features where snow might fall from.

We suspect that after this big warm-up and with rain to over 6600 ft, weak layers such as the January Drought Layer (JDL) are no longer a significant issue for avalanches. But if you're traveling to more obscure places in the zone or at elevations above the rain/snow line (approximately 7000ft), this layering should still factor into your uncertainty and travel decisions. Also, bear in mind that the nearby East North zone still harbors a more active persistent slab problem. On the 23rd, observers from the Holden area reported very large natural slab avalanches that may have run on the JDL. Since avalanches don't necessarily abide by our human-made forecast zone boundary lines, be a little more suspicious of the snowpack further north. Here are three things you can do to reduce your risk:

1. Dig down into the snowpack to investigate the distribution of weak layers. Harder snow over softer, sugary snow is a red flag.
2. Choose more simple terrain. Think planar, short, and terrain trap free.
3. When in doubt, avoid slopes over 30 degrees.

An NWAC forecaster traveling around Mission Ridge on Sunday reported continued dry snow and pleasant riding conditions on shaded aspects. He found the JDL to be nearly rounded and healed. He noted widespread surface hoar development and that the snow is weakening around a crust that formed on 02/24. These could be layers to look for discussion about in future forecasts when the next big storm rolls through.

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