East Slopes North

An inch or two of new snow may help freshen up surfaces, and for the most part won't be enough to increase avalanche danger much. Do look out for shallow, freshly formed wind slabs near ridgelines or beneath cliff bands, or chances for the new snow to sluff off steep slopes. Use caution in extreme terrain where a small slide or a ride would have a bad outcome.

Wednesday should be a nice day in the mountains with a few inches of new snow, light winds, and increasing sunshine. In general, winds have been light, but in some high exposed areas perhaps they've blown enough to create shallow cohesive slabs. Small dry loose slides may also be possible on very steep slopes. Both of these types of avalanches could still knock you off balance and, in extreme terrain, result in significant injuries. Look for signs of drifting snow, shooting cracks, drifts, or snow that moves downhill in a 'sluff'.  Consider steering around these areas on consequential slopes. 

Over the weekend, some observers reported a layer of surface hoar layer buried under 1-3 inches of recent snow. This warrants tracking now that we're slowly adding more snow over it, so see if you can find it while your out (see photo example below). Recently buried surfaces above 6,500ft were predominately sugary, dry snow. Near Washington Pass a thin, breakable crust formed from light rain below 6,500ft on December 10th. This crust is thinner and potentially absent in some places further east of the Cascade crest, and around sparsely treed areas. A more robust, older crust (12/7) is buried 12-18" down. Snowpack depths range from 5-6ft at upper elevations and approximately 4ft at mid-elevations.