West Slopes South

Wednesday night into Thursday was a proper storm in the West South zone. Apart from stacking up anywhere from 6 inches to 1 foot of snow, the winds were a major player. On Thursday, observations from Crystal, White Pass, Paradise, and Mount Adams all indicate that wind slabs were the main concern, with both natural and human-triggered slabs reported. As the sun broke through the thin clouds later in the day, we got reports of the snow getting moist and rollerballing, but not many actual wet loose slides.

Friday will be a similar kind of day in the morning, but there will likely be a quick transition to putting wet avalanches front and center, where they will remain through the weekend. Be prepared to quickly shift plans to avoid sun-exposed slopes if they're heating up and producing wet activity.

The widest and deepest slabs reported on Thursday were in the Crystal area. Both the Crystal Mountain Pro Patrol and NWAC forecasters identified weak faceted grains above the 3/25 crust. We haven't had any reports of these pesky weak grains anywhere else in the zone, but be aware that slides could break all the way down to the 3/25 crust and span far distances, particularly on shaded slopes.

The storm helped improve travel at lower elevations, at least for a day. But there still isn't enough snow to pose much avalanche hazard. You will likely see wet avalanche activity in the lower elevation band, but the majority of it won't be large enough to reach the threshold to be called consequential avalanches. Instead, you'll need to continue to manage holes, creeks, bare ground, or shallowly buried hazards as you make your way into the mountains.