Stevens Pass

Don't hang up your skins to dry quite yet! A wintery weather pattern change is upon us. Freezing levels will slowly drop to around 4000 ft by the end of the day on Monday, and will continue to drop as more significant snow totals impact the forecast region on Tuesday. Increasing wind from the west will accompany this storm track, but is not expected to exceed moderate speeds on Monday. 

The snowpack at middle and lower elevations will likely be wet and mushy thanks to rainfall. We don't expect enough rain to completely unglue the snowpack, but monitor surfaces as you travel. If you are sinking past your boot tops, avoid slopes steeper than 40 degrees. Don't linger under cornices or cliffy terrain where wet snow could fall. Even with slim chances, the consequences of being hit by something falling from above could be significant.

The most recent observations come from Stevens Pass Mountain Resort and a snow professional skiing nearby on Sunday. SPMR reported a 6-inch thick melt freeze crust that was boot supportable first thing in the morning. The snow professional reported warming on southerly aspects and being able to push small amounts of surface snow with limited entrainment by mid-afternoon. On the 11th, an NWAC forecaster near SPMR found less than an inch of soft, moist snow on the surface over a foot of solidly frozen crust. On the 8th, an observer on Rock Mountain reported supportive, but softening surfaces and thick crusts in the upper snowpack. The last natural wet avalanches were reported to have run on the 6th where skiers triggered wet loose avalanches on the south aspect of Lichtenberg Mountain. 

Reports indicate snow cover on most southerly slopes below 5800 ft is becoming discontinuous. Prepare for low snow cover, open creeks, and other obstacles, which create various travel hazards.