East Slopes Central

Isolated rocks or cliffs may still shed wet snow, but slightly cooler temperatures make this problem even less likely. Rocks, trees, and creek holes still exposed in our shallow snowpack are more widespread hazards. 

The weak weather system brushing our region on Thursday will not have much of an impact on conditions east of the Cascades. Slightly cooler temperatures may be the only noticeable difference. With cooler temperatures, we expect little to no wet avalanche activity. However, there's always a possibility of warm, sunny rock slabs shedding snow onto the slopes below. So, pay attention to these potential overhead hazards as you travel on the slopes below. 

Observers report minimal wet loose avalanche activity, just some rollerballs on south and east aspects at upper elevations. They also noted melt-freeze crusts on southern slopes. North-facing aspects still hold cold, dry snow that is beginning to weaken and become faceted. In alpine terrain, you'll also find variable wind-affected surfaces.  Large surface hoar is also widespread where cold temperatures and clear skies overlap. The snowpack height is decreasing slowly at upper elevations, but thankfully, the inversion is preserving the little snow we have at lower elevations. You will likely experience challenging travel at lower elevations with low snow cover and breakable crusts of varying hardnesses on southern slopes at mid and upper elevations.