Avalanche Forecast

Decreasing winds, decreasing clouds and mostly sunny weather should be seen Saturday. Warmer temperatures should be seen by Saturday afternoon.

The main concern should be any small shallow new wind slab built on lee slopes in the alpine and perhaps in the near treeline by the front on Friday.

Minor wet loose avalanches might also be possible by Saturday afternoon on solar aspects.

Shallow amounts of stable snow that generally bond well to previous snow should be seen on most other slopes but again only in the alpine or near treeline. 

The last significant snow at Hurricane occurred in early December. Either strong high pressure or systems with high freezing levels have limited the snow accumulations in the Olympics and specifically at Hurricane Ridge where the total snowdepth remains a meager 13 inches. The NWAC weather station at Hurricane has recorded less than 2 inches of water through December. 

The overall shallow snowpack has been limiting the avalanche danger, especially near tree line and below tree line where significant terrain and vegetative anchors remain. Field observations at Klahhane Ridge Sunday indicated the lack of snow on most slopes. On north facing slopes below the ridge there was evidence of old wind slab which was not reactive in tests. Rain to high elevations and lack of recent snow is maintaining mostly stable conditions with surface crusts or shallow wind drifts over crust layers.

A front is crossing the Northwest on Friday. This will cause southwest winds to shift to the northwest with rain changing to a little snow at the higher elevations in the Olympics with cooling temperatures.

View looking east along Klahhane Ridge, Olympics 12-22-2013, K. Reid