Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Mon
Hochgebirge
4 · Gross
Waldgrenze
4 · Gross
Unterhalb
4 · Gross
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Kernpunkte

As heavy rain soaks our weak snowpack, natural avalanches large enough to kill you or break trees will occur. Traveling anywhere an avalanche can start, run, or stop is not recommended. Your best move will be to stay home where it's dry and let this storm run its course.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wet Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Very Likely
    Größe
    2–3

    Large and destructive natural avalanches will occur during this atmospheric river event. If you've skimmed the forecast at any point over the last month, you'll have noticed us talking about persistent weak layers such as the January Drought Layer (JDL), 1/10 complex, and 2/13 interface. This is the time for those layers to fail as wet slabs. Yes - you will see loose and smaller wet slides in the surface snow. However, slopes that have already slid during the onset of this storm could slide again as liquid water works deeper into our weak and dry snowpack, reaching those persistent grains. There will also be cornice collapses and, potentially, glide avalanches. This means that slides could grow very large (D3) and powerful - breaking trees and running toward valley bottoms or openings in the forest. Sunday is not the day to hang out on or below any slope capable of producing an avalanche. Travel corridors you usually think of as "safe" should be suspect. Don't thread the needle - avoid anywhere an avalanche can start, run, or stop.

    (2/22/2025)

    A widely breaking slab avalanche on Coal Creek ridge near White Pass. This failed due to rain on Friday night. [E 5500']

    Similarly, large and destructive avalanches will occur throughout the zone on Sunday.

    Photo: Remy Aucoin

Avalanche Discussion

Buckle up! It's going to be a wet and wild night. Multiple inches of rain are expected to soak the West South zone from the volcanoes to the crest, north and south. The result will be very dangerous avalanche conditions as rain reaches the top of most peaks and destabilizes our weak snowpack. We've already received reports of a few very large avalanches in the zone, one from Mount St. Helens on Friday and another near White Pass on Saturday. These slides are a good indication of the destructive avalanches expected throughout the day on Sunday. Wet avalanches are extremely difficult to predict and can occur even after the rain has stopped. So don't try to tempt fate. Sunday will be a great day to stay home and binge watch that show your friend has been annoying you about or do mid-winter maintenance on your gear. Traveling in the mountains is not recommended until this atmospheric river concludes. Not that you should want to, it will be unpleasant out there.

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