East Slopes South

A cool and cloudy day on Sunday will make avalanches unlikely. However, a strong winter storm will be impacting the Cascades in the late evening, and you should anticipate a significant increase in avalanche danger on Sunday night and Monday. There is thin snow cover in many areas in the zone below 5500ft, and access to higher elevations is becoming steadily more challenging. 

Sunday will likely be a calm day before an impactful winter storm moves into the Cascades late evening and continues through Monday. You can expect mostly cloudy skies with the possibility of some light rain or snow during the daylight hours before precipitation begins to ramp up significantly overnight. New storm snow may not bond well with the underlying surfaces. Therefore, you can expect avalanche danger to increase significantly late Sunday evening and Monday. If you are out in the mountains on Sunday, be aware of the impending storm. You may want to simplify your terrain and choose lower angle slopes if you see dramatic increases in precipitation rates and blowing snow. 

Take note of snow surfaces you find on Sunday. Slick, icy crusts are a good sliding surface for new snow, and weak snow on the surface could be a potential weak layer. Let us know what you find by submitting an observation.

A shallow, patchy snowpack exists in the southern and eastern areas of the zone, even on shady northern aspects. Some southern slopes are snow-free up to 5700ft. Thankfully, regular grooming of snowmobile trails throughout the winter has maintained access through an otherwise snow-free landscape at lower elevations. Gaining access to higher elevation terrain could remain your biggest challenge in the mountains. You may need to use summer roads and trails to get to higher elevations with continuous snow coverage. Deeper snowpacks continue to hang on in the HWY 410 corridor, American Ridge, and northerly aspects above 6000ft near Bumping Ridge and Mt Aix.