Blues

Despite significant weather patterns affecting the Blues earlier in the week, the remaining snowpack is showing signs of stability, making avalanches unlikely today. Continue to use normal caution and safe habits while traveling in the back country today and watch out for low-snow skiing and riding conditions.

 Today's forecast is sponsored by The Trailhead in Baker City

Snotel sites are reading that 1-4 inches of SWE have fallen in the Blues since Thursday. While that amount of weight would normally destabilize conditions, up to at least 5600' elevation, it appears that all of the precipitation from Thursday and Friday fell as rain, thoroughly saturating the existing snowpack. Yesterday's storm underperformed and only brought a couple of inches of new snow to the region. With limited new snow and the forecasted cooling trend, the existing snowpack should stabalize and create generally safe conditions avalanche-wise.

Snow depth varies significantly throughout the range, and low coverage and melting out obstacles will likely pose the greatest risk to those traveling around the mountains this weekend.

We have limited observations from the Blues. Let's paint this picture together.  Let us know what you are seeing out there through an observation.  It doesn't need to be complex or technical- just a few pictures and a description of what you encountered is super helpful to forecasters.  

Beacon Parks: Thank you to everyone who helped establish the beacon training park at Anthony Lakes (across from the ski lift on Mud Lake) and near the warming shelter at Salt Creek Summit snopark outside of Joseph, OR. This is a valuable free resource that everyone should use to practice their companion rescue skills.