Avalanche forecast

East Slopes North

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sun
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

On Saturday, more snow and wind will maintain dangerous conditions. You can trigger avalanches in new and recent snow on slopes steeper than 35 degrees, especially where the wind forms deep drifts. Minimize the risk of getting caught in an avalanche by sticking to lower-angle, wind-sheltered terrain and avoiding steep roll-overs and slopes above rocks or cliffs. 

Avalanche problems

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–2

    There's enough new snow that you may be able to trigger avalanches on a variety of steep slopes. The most dangerous areas will be leeward sides of ridges and wind-exposed features, where avalanches could be easier to trigger and big enough to bury you. To safely travel in the backcountry, stick to well-supported, lower-angle slopes and wind-sheltered terrain. Steer around typical trigger points like convexities, and unsupported features.

    Washington Pass could receive another 10" of snow by the end of Saturday with enough wind to form fresh wind-drifted slabs. Watch for cracks shooting through the snow and recent avalanches to indicate the danger. Use small features and quick tests to see how easily the snow slides before getting onto bigger slopes. Below 3,500ft you may find some moist surface snow. Keep an eye out for small wet avalanches. 

    (12/26/2024)

    Skiers triggered a small avalanche on a convex feature. Delancey Ridge, SE, 5,200ft

    Photo: Forest McBrian

Avalanche Discussion

It's been a stormy holiday week. Saturday's windy storm will come on the heels of a 24-hour pause following 10" of snow that fell with strong winds on Thursday. A couple of smaller storms on the 21-24th brought a total of 1" of water. Slopes below 3,000-4,000ft have seen some warm, moist snow this week.

On Thursday, observers on Delancey Ridge triggered small avalanches in the new snow and cracking on wind-sheltered slopes. At 5,500ft found over 5 feet of snow on the ground and the Solstice crust is 1.5 feet below the surface. Observations from the Cascade crest have been more limited than usual this week, however, the snowpack there is over 7 feet deep. The second half of December has brought snowpack-building storms to the zone. 

While recent temperatures have been warm, there's decent coverage at lower elevations and in the eastern mountains. On Thursday and Friday, observers in the Twisp River drainage found a relatively strong snowpack, though still shallower than at the Cascade crest. There was 100cm of snow on the ground at 3,200ft and depths increased with elevation. The wind transported a considerable amount of snow on Thursday. On Friday, observers didn't find wind slab instabilities below 6,500ft, but they may've existed higher in the terrain. 

In some parts of the foothills and eastern portion of the zone, you may find more weak layers than at the Cascade crest. The Loup Loup area has a relatively robust snowpack compared to many years though still on the shallow side. Pay attention to red flag signs of instability, such as whumping collapses, and consider digging down to identify potential weak layers. An example of this is highlighted by last week's observations of small avalanches failing on a layer of buried surface hoar near Black Pine Lake. The distribution of the surface hoar is unknown, but it likely is less pertinent now that lower elevations have formed overlying crusts.

You can contribute to the avalanche forecast. Please let us know what you see in the mountains by submitting an observation. 

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