East Slopes Central

At lower elevations, you may encounter snow that is still wet and unsupportable. If you do, avoid spending time on steep slopes where there remains some potential to trigger a small wet snow avalanche. Put bigger slab avalanches running on weak layers below in mind if you plan to travel to high elevations in more obscure places in the zone.

Unless you were close to the Cascade Crest, you probably experienced a beautifully sunny day on Monday. Now, Tuesday is expected to be noticeably colder and cloudier zone wide. It still won't be cold per se, but a trace amount of snowfall combined with increasing afternoon winds could make the day feel rather wintery.

Observations from the Icicle Creek and Silverly Creek drainages and Blewett Pass reported wet, mushy snow to the ground below 4000 ft in the last couple of days. You could still encounter some wet snow at lower elevations on Tuesday, as the snowpack may not be fully refrozen yet. If you find yourself punching deeply through sloppy snow, ascend to more dry and refrozen snow for safer (and maybe more pleasant) conditions.

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 bear in mind that the nearby East North zone still harbors a more active persistent slab problem. On Sunday, NWAC Forecasters in that zone observed recent wet and persistent slab avalanches up to D3 in size that slid on the JDL. Since snowpack structure doesn't necessarily abide by our human-made forecast zone boundary lines, be a little more suspicious of the snowpack further north or in far-out places in East Central. This layering could also be more obvious above the old rain/snow line, which is approximately 7000 ft, but we lack observations to know with much confidence. Factor in this uncertainty into your travel decisions. 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. You're unlikely to see cracking or collapsing prior to dropping in. When in doubt, avoid slopes over 30 degrees.

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