Hwy 2 Corridor, Skykomish

Impacts from the late January atmospheric river (and subsequent Early February Crust) remain extremely noticeable. At 4500 ft and higher, there's a foot of snow over the Early February Crust making conditions much more pleasant for sliding. Forested areas remain predominantly crusty. Minimal wind redistribution was noted today. Snow was bonded well to the Early February Crust, and aside from shallow, very small dry loose avalanche activity on steep rollovers, no other avalanches occurred. Without wind loading in my location, I was not concerned about slab avalanches occurring where I traveled. 

Very small dry loose avalanches triggered on steep rollovers in the new snow.

Snow first began accumulating over the Early February Crust (EFC) at around 3000ft. By 3600ft, in open areas, there was 6" with a stout crust midway in that layer. There was a foot+ of snow over the EFC at 4600' and higher. This was the case in areas with clear sky views,  but most places that I traveled were forested and new snow over the EFC was minimal, at least until about 5000ft. 

The 2-3" of snow from overnight/during the day is minimally wind-effected and very low density. Despite the occasional sun-breaks today the new layer didn't appear to moisten at all. 

Layers above the EFC are aspect-dependent. There are two prominent melt-freeze crusts on south-facing slopes, and those crusts may be more subtle yet noticeable all the way through Northwest and Northeast aspects.  (Only due north remains crust-free). 

I found similar tilt-test results at both 4600' and 5200ft in the foot of new snow on shady aspects- a failure occurred in a layer of rounding facets between the two crusts. An extended column test yielded no results at 5200'.