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Weather Summary

Skies were mostly cloudy during the morning in the Sawtooth Valley, becoming overcast in the afternoon. Light precipitation started around 1600, falling as rain below about 7,000-7,500'. When I started skiing (1700), skies were overcast and S-1 to S1 snowfall was occurring and around 1cm of snow had accumulated.

Avalanche Observations

Avalanche Observation Comments:

I did not observe any recent avalanches, but visibility was limited and I did not stop to look while driving.

Snowpack Observations

This was a quick tour to keep the streak alive as I migrated south. I found very nice corn skiing conditions late in the day. The surface was starting to refreeze when I was out (1700), thanks to a light breeze, cooling temps, and new snow falling on the surface. Sweet sweet cool-down corn. The upper 5-8cm had melted during the day, but it "felt" locked up and refrozen immediately below that, based on pole probing. I did not do any digging.

General sense is that the seasonal snowpack transition has been on pause since the big warm-up two weeks ago. Most middle and upper elevation slopes are holding plenty of dry, wintry snow. The approaching warm-up will be much longer and warmer than the mid-April event and I anticipate that we will be seeing plenty of large wet snow avalanches. On many slopes, substantial amounts of meltwater have yet to be pushed deeper into the snowpack, particularly at upper elevations and on middle elevation shadies. It is worth keeping in mind the nature and distribution of persistent weak layers from earlier in the season (12/11, 12/19, and 1/5). The 12/11 layer in particular produced several widespread avalanche cycles and was very uniformly distributed throughout the terrain. It would not be surprising to see deeper weak layers reawaken when significant amounts of meltwater are being pumped deeper into the snowpack.