Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Sat
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist last year abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

The quick burst of precipitation from Thursday night may have deposited enough snow that you could trigger a small avalanche at higher elevations. If wind-drifted snow deposits are 6 inches or deeper, consider steering around steep slopes, especially if there are terrain traps beneath you. Chances of a wet avalanche happening are pretty low, but if the sun pops out, then small slides in new snow could happen, or the looming glide crack or large saggy cornice may still fail. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1–1.5

    We may squeeze enough snow out of this short burst of precipitation that it could result in small human-triggered avalanches at upper elevations on Friday. As you climb higher and start noticing new snow building up, monitor the new snow depths. If drifts begin growing to 6 inches or deeper, they may be large enough for you to start triggering small avalanches on steep slopes. These may not be a problem, unless if you're in high-consequence terrain. 

    New drifts will form around features, in gullies, and on the leeward side of slopes. Search for rippled patterns or smooth, pillowlike features. The new layer is shallow enough that you can dig down with your hand to see how easily the layer slides on the layer beneath it. If the new snow slides easily on the underlying layer, or if you're in doubt, avoid steep slopes where there's more than about 6 inches of wind slab sitting on the surface. 

    Example photo: You might be able to trigger avalanches in shallow wind slabs like these on Friday. 

     

  • Glide Cracks

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    2–2.5

    Temperatures are finally cooling for a short period, but underlying wet snow concerns are still on our mind. The snowpack remains moist; there hasn't been a freeze in recent days until just now, and glide cracks have continued to grow. 

    Chances are getting pretty low that a large glide avalanche could release, but a gaping glide crack is still not particularly a feature that I'd want to find myself beneath in the odd chance that a glide avalanche could release while I'm beneath it. The same goes for large, saggy cornices. Give these features a wide berth, or travel hastily beneath them. 

    (4/6/2025)

    A large glide avalanche that occurred recently in the Snowking area. 

Avalanche Discussion

If the sun pops out, wet loose avalanches may result on steep slopes facing the sun, most likely at higher elevations in Thursday night's new snow, if there is any.

Thursday night's quick storm began with rain at nearly all elevations. This likely saturated the top few inches of the new snow layer that fell from Sunday night through Wednesday morning. Temperatures will rapidly cool into Friday, so some of these wetted surfaces may have already frozen, have a very superficial freeze, or might not be frozen at all yet.

We received 3.5 inches of water from Sunday night through Tuesday. At the tail end, snowlines dropped down to 3000ft. In typical spring-like fashion, the snow was not light and fluffy.  There could be three feet of heavy snow at upper elevations, and there's closer to one foot at mid elevations. These layers are capping the snowpack that is predominantly moist, large-grained melt forms at all but higher elevations. 

Creeks and other features are rapidly opening up. Glide cracks are sneakily covered by newer snow. Beware of falling into any hidden hazards. 

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