East Slopes North

Triggering avalanches is unlikely. Snow surfaces could warm where the sun shines on steep, southerly slopes. Expect continued cooling temperatures with low clouds east of the Cascade crest and more sun near and west of the crest.

Happy New Year! Here's hoping 2024 will bring more snow and safe backcountry travel.

The slow cooling trend will continue Sunday night into Monday.  Where the sun shines, there's potential for warming snow surfaces. While wet avalanches are unlikely, you may see some moist snow and even rollerballs on steep sunny slopes at upper elevations and west of the Cascade crest. Low clouds and valley fog will stay firmly in place to the east of Washington Pass and the Cascade crest.

A dusting of new snow accumulated at Washington Pass since Saturday. Some of this was likely light rain at very low elevations. On Friday, observers in the Hairpin Valley reported moist snow and rollerballs at mid-elevations, with light rime where surfaces stayed cooler.

Small, natural wind slab avalanches were reported from upper elevations on December 26th and 27th, including an avalanche in extreme terrain on Pica Peak, which appears to have stepped down to a deeper layer. These avalanches will now be difficult to trigger.

It's worth keeping in mind that observers have reported a strong-over-weak snowpack structure where recent snow and drifted slabs overly a weak layer/crust combination in the top foot of the snowpack. There've been more signs of instability with a similar snowpack structure in the East Central zone. Even there, the structure isn't directly driving the avalanche hazard. Observers have found weak layers adjacent to crusts in the upper snowpack near Washington Pass and Harts Pass. They've found little potential to trigger avalanches where the crusts are thick and the overlying snow is decently bonded. There's uncertainty where the crusts could be thinner and weak layers could be more pronounced, such as at upper elevations and east of the Cascade crest. 

All of this is to say that conditions are generally safe, but there are some things to keep in mind. Be ready to make your own assessments if you travel in areas where we have less information. For an idea of what you might find in you may find in the southern portion of this zone, like mid-Twisp River drainage, check out these observations from the Holden area.