Snoqualmie Pass

Even though this storm didn’t produce much in the way of snow at the Pass, if you head to mid and upper elevations you may find a few pockets of wind drifted snow. While these possible avalanches should be very isolated and small, don’t let them catch you off guard on high consequence slopes.

Snoqualmie Pass didn’t pick up very much snow out of this fast-moving storm. As of Monday afternoon, only a trace of new snow had accumulated at pass level and around 3-4” near the top of Alpental. However, this snow fell on a firm crust and was accompanied by moderate to strong winds. As a result, you find a few small pockets of wind drifted snow at mid and upper elevations. While these little slabs should be very isolated, they may trigger easily and run quickly over the old icy surface. Watch for wind-textured slopes and smooth pillow-like drifts to help anticipate and identity potential wind slabs you may want to avoid. 

While we anticipate the Pass will stay mostly cloudy on Tuesday, there could be a couple of sun breaks, and we’re reaching that time of year where the sun can quickly cause the snow to change. If the skies clear, anticipate piles of rollerballs and loose wet avalanches on steep slopes receiving direct sunshine. Like the wind slabs, these small avalanches may travel farther than normal over the firm crust beneath. In all cases, we expect any avalanches to remain above the most recent interface. This Valentines Day crust should be strong and thick. It will easily keep slides limited to the new snow. While these possible avalanches should stay small, don’t let them catch you off guard and push you over a cliff, through rocks, or into a deep gully.

The new snow fell on a wide variety of surfaces. Prior to this storm icy slopes, rough crusts, and frozen wind-textured snow were all reported at the Pass. During the recent warm and sunny weather rocks, trees, and creeks reemerged from the snowpack. This little bit of new snow won’t do much to improve travel or cover these obstacles. Make sure you’re ready to handle slippery slopes and shallowly buried objects. Challenging travel conditions may pose the greatest risk you face on Tuesday. 

While there are still weak layers deeper in the snowpack (Late Jan Crust-Facets), the new shallowly buried crust should significantly limit their ability to produce avalanches. So, we’ll keep an eye on these older snow layers, but for the moment it should be easy to observe and track the snow over the Valentines Day crust.