Avalanche forecast

West Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Wed
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 6 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

There’s plenty of soft snow to blow around in the wind and form fresh slabs. Watch for drifts, rime, and cornices to point toward potentially hazardous slopes. Be leery of these wind loaded areas, especially in high consequence terrain.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–1.5

    The trickle, trickle, trickle of fresh snow this week hasn’t caused too many problems. However, a slight uptick in wind speeds on Monday afternoon and evening could easily drift the new snow into firmer and thicker slabs. Most of the active wind loading should be over before you make it into the mountains on Tuesday. So, you’ll need to look for clues like sharp drifts behind rocks, rime on trees, or fresh wind lips along ridges to indicate local wind patterns and anticipate potentially loaded slopes.

    Most of these avalanches should be fairly small, but could easily knock you around or push you over. That might not be a big deal on smooth low consequence slopes, but above a cliff or narrow gulley…. Well, that’s a much bigger issue. 

    In isolated areas, these wind slabs could fail as deep as the 2/13 interface on a layer of weak facets or surface hoar. If these nasty grains get involved, an avalanche may break widely or release above you.

    (2/16/2026)

    Subtle signs of wind drifted snow can help anticipate wind loaded slopes just on the other side of the trees. 

    Photo: Dallas Glass

Avalanche Discussion

Cold temperatures and another round of moisture should result in some fluffy low density snow by Tuesday morning! This keeps the snow train going since 2/13, when most areas slowly stacked up 6 to 12 inches (as of Monday evening). 

There’s a good chance the sun will make an appearance on Tuesday. Cold temperatures and low density snow should help limit any loose avalanche activity. But if the sun comes out, there will almost certainly be a few small sluffs as snow sheds off trees and rocks. Don’t let one of these small loose slides catch you by surprise in very steep terrain, 

All this new snow buried the 2/13 interface. Buried surface hoar and sugary facets have been found near Crystal, White Pass, and Paradise. So far, we aren’t aware of any notable avalanches on these persistent weak grains. Maybe this modest daily loading will eventually push this weak layer past its breaking point, or maybe it will provide the time it needs to heal. Hard to say, but it’s worth keeping an eye on. You can find this layer below the recent snow. On sunny slopes, this is marked by a thick but stout crust. A bit further down, you'll find the stout 2/7 crust. Avalanches could entrain snow down to or run on this slick surface. 

It certainly feels and looks much more like winter lately. Sadly, coverage is still painfully thin. In some places a few inches of snow cover bare ground or rocks. Common routes simply “don’t go.” Random holes, open creeks, and downed logs make travel much more circuitous than normal. Give yourself extra time to deal with these ‘early season’ conditions. 

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