Eastside Region

Avalanches are unlikely. Assess extreme terrain for small wind drifts and wet surface snow on slopes facing the sun. Getting knocked off your feet or hitting a shallowly buried obstacle in steep terrain can still have severe consequences. Prepare for challenging travel over variable surfaces.

Triggering an avalanche is unlikely at this time. Very small pockets of unstable snow may still linger in isolated areas where the wind has drifted the snow into firm slabs, or the surface snow is becoming wet with rising temperatures throughout the day. However, the N winds shifting to the W/SW should keep things a bit cooler on solar slopes today. The size of these slides make them appear inconsequential, however getting knocked off your feet in exposed/steep terrain can still have dire consequences. 

Heading into the mountains, consider travel conditions. The combination of extreme wind events from around the compass the past several weeks and sunny weather have brought us a mix of surfaces. We have everything from slick, icy, and firm supportable crusts, sastrugi, windboard and wind slabs, as well as breakable crusts of varying thicknesses. In some colder, more sheltered areas, expect to find weakening dry, loose pockets of snow overlying any of these firmer surfaces. Considering if you need crampons, ski crampons, or ice axe for safe travel to your objective can increase your margin for safety. Shallowly buried obstacles still present one of our biggest hazards. 

If you choose to step out into big terrain today, remember to maintain a curious mindset. Assess steep slopes for isolated pockets of wind-drifted snow near ridgelines, and be aware of surface snow becoming wet in wind-sheltered areas as the sun becomes higher in the sky.