Lawinenlagebericht

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Wed
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
2 · Mässig
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Kernpunkte

Avalanches are becoming harder to trigger, but weak layers lurking in the snowpack remain. With more wind in the forecast, drifted terrain below ridgelines will be the most suspect areas. So avoid steep slopes where you identify pillow-like drifts or actively blowing snow. With this tricky avalanche problem, choosing sheltered lower-angle terrain reduces your exposure. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1–2

    With clouds and cooling temperatures, we expect that persistent slabs are becoming more stubborn to trigger. The most likely places to find lingering reactive slabs are in wind-loaded terrain at upper elevations.  Avoid steep slopes below corniced ridgelines and areas with stiff, wind-textured surfaces. Current reports indicate most avalanches have been small, but with limited access to the zone, we have considerable uncertainty. And even small avalanches can carry high consequences in the wrong terrain. So it's important to step into terrain slowly, choosing moderate, sheltered, small slopes. 

    This problem is difficult to diagnose in the field, so you likely won't receive much feedback before an avalanche occurs. Maybe you'll get a whumpfing collapse or a shooting crack, but that's not a guarantee. The best mitigation tool you have is terrain avoidance. 

    (3/1/2026)

    Snow machine triggered persistent slab avalanche in the neighboring East South zone on 2/28. [HS- AMu-R2-D2-O @ NE, 6700']

    Photo: Joe Dellaporta

Avalanche Discussion

Some very light rain might impact the western edge of East Central. We don't expect this to be enough precipitation for widespread wet loose avalanches, but you'll likely see a few rollerballs here and there in northern sheltered areas that aren't already wind-hammered. Southern aspects likely have thick surface crusts from the recent hot weather and sunshine. You can generally find 8-12 inches of snow over our persistent weak layers - the 2/13 buried surface hoar and facets around the 2/7 crust. This depth and the prominence of these layers may vary throughout our large zone, especially on sun-exposed slopes or at lower elevations. However, we have decent confidence that this poor snowpack setup exists throughout the zone, despite only a handful of data points. 

On Saturday, backcountry travelers observed numerous whumpfing collapses on Big Jim Mountain outside of Leavenworth. Over in the Wenatchees, the Mission Ridge Pro Patrol noted a small avalanche triggered on a cutbank that failed on buried surface hoar, and that the weak layers are alive and well in study plots. On Friday, NWAC forecasters were in the Teanaway and found that the buried surface hoar was starting to heal, but the 2/7 facets were not. They also observed long shooting cracks in wind-drifted snow.

We don't have many direct avalanche observations from our zone. However, in neighboring zones, we have gotten plenty of feedback. East North continues to have very large avalanches fail. Stevens Pass had an active weekend. And a snowmobiler in the East South triggered a persistent slab on Saturday that broke 2 feet deep. Given the known weak snowpack structure in our zone, these observations underscore the concerns you should consider when making your travel plans. Take the time to discuss your acceptable level of risk with your partners.

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