Elkhorns

A cooling and drying trend will limit avalanche activity today.  Small avalanches involving either pockets of wind-drifted snow above treeline, or wet loose snow on lower sunny slopes, are unlikely but not impossible.   Look for visual changes in texture/stiffening snow surfaces or gloppy surfaces/rollerballs.  If you find these warning signs, retreat to shady or low angled slopes.  

This forecast is sponsored by Eli Mayes Dental of La Grande, OR.  

Most windslabs from early in the week have healed and you are unlikely to encounter even small ones.  Denser snow is often less transportable by the wind, especially after it's been zapped by the sun.  Winds have shifted from the South to the North, so wind slabs could be around the compass, primarily in upper elevations with a few inches of drier new snow.  The extent of wind slab development will depend on the amount of dry snow available to be transported, so evaluate any slope over 30 degrees before committing to it.  This especially applies when you enter an aspect you haven't traveled on earlier in the day (surprise instability).  

Springtime weather patterns are often dynamic...

Like many recent days, isolated showers are possible with a brief angry inch of snow.  That may occur in one basin and not the next.  Maintain your ability to be surprised and stay flexible in your mountain travel plans.  Play the hand you are dealt and take advantage of ridgeline views to scout into the wind for incoming systems before they hit you.  

A forecaster snowmobiling at mid-elevations in the Western Wallowas yesterday observed a semi-supportive melt freeze/wind crust over most exposed terrain, softening in the afternoon but not to the point of seeing wet loose activity.  

With limited observations this time of year, uncertainty is higher.  Please submit an observation here and chip in to the community info-sharing.  It can be simple, short, and even anonymous.  Thank you!