Avalanche forecast

Snoqualmie Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sat
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 4 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Cloudy weather should help keep springtime temperatures from destabilizing the snow on Friday. You can look at the snow surface to help you verify this is the case. If the snow is mostly supportable and not very heavy or wet, the clouds are doing their job and generally safe conditions should prevail.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1

    If the snow surface gets wet and sticky on Friday, think about wet avalanches on slopes over 35 degrees. You can try to push on the snow on small test slopes to see if it is “ripe” and ready to slide downhill. You can also get off your mode of travel and step into the snow to see if you are sinking in past your ankle. If so, you will know there is enough heavy snow to create a Wet Loose avalanche. These slides often start at a point before fanning out as they descend downhill. Look for recent fan-shaped debris piles or fresh rollerballs and pinwheels as visual clues to help you identify that these slides are possible.

    (3/24/2022)

    Take a moment to step off your mode of travel to see how deeply you are plunging into the snow. If you are sinking in past your ankle, start to think about wet avalanches. 

    Photo: Dallas Glass

Avalanche Discussion

Cloudy weather should battle with springtime temperatures in an attempt to soften the snow surface on Friday. Without the aid of sunshine, we suspect that the cloudy weather should win and help to keep wet avalanches at bay. Taking note of the snow surface throughout the day can help you make terrain decisions and set the tone for your time in the mountains. If you find that the surface is firm and mostly supportable, the avalanche hazard should be minimal. If you are plunging in deeply on a poorly frozen surface, the likelihood of you triggering a Wet Loose avalanche, or cornices and blocks of snow falling from rocky ledges may have increased.

The snowpack at Snoqualmie Pass is still in a state of transition toward its springtime form. It may take a few more freeze/thaw cycles before we can put deeper layers to bed completely and focus on the diurnal nature of the snowpack. Until this happens, continue to think about the weak snow grains above the Early March Crust (~3 feet below the surface) on upper elevation shaded slopes. The last avalanche on this layer was on 3/18 at Snoqualmie Pass, but there was a very large avalanche suspected to have failed on this layer during a bout of warm weather in the West North zone on Wednesday, 3/23. We do not have any layers of concern below the Early March Crust at this time.

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