Avalanche forecast

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
View on map

Avalanche danger

Thu
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
2 · Moderate
Open full map
Out of date — this forecast expired 6 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

New snow, warming temperatures, and strong winds will create dangerous avalanche conditions as the day progresses. It will be easy to trigger avalanches on most steep slopes, but areas with deep wind drifts will harbor larger, more dangerous slabs. Wednesday will be a good day to seek out low angle, sheltered slopes. 

Avalanche problems

  • Storm Slabs

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

    In the morning, you might find cold, dry snow, but the afternoon warming will bring dangerous avalanche conditions. Watch for increasing precipitation intensity and warming temperatures as your first indication that avalanche conditions are deteriorating. Warmer, heavier snow will fall over cold, dry snow and form widespread storm slabs. As conditions worsen, move to lower angle terrain and avoid likely trigger points like steep convex rolls, gullies, or unsupported slopes. Strong winds will also drift fresh snow around, forming wind slabs on lee slopes below ridgelines. Wind slabs are likely to be larger, more dangerous, and easier to trigger than storm slabs. Look for actively drifting snow or textured surfaces as indicators of wind-loaded terrain. You'll want to avoid any steep slopes with deep drifts. 

    Areas near the Cascade Crest continue to be favored with higher snow totals, so expect more widespread and larger avalanches farther west in the zone. 

    (3/6/2026)

    A test slope showed unstable cracking in wind-loaded snow.

    Photo: Payton Schiff

Avalanche Discussion

After another night of cold snow, nature is turning up the temperature on Wednesday. There is 10-12" of fresh snow in areas near the crest, and we expect another 12" by late afternoon on Wednesday.  We're not certain what time in the afternoon the storm will truly intensify, but we are confident it will happen at somepoint. If you're out after 5 or 6 pm in areas near the Cascade Crest, large avalanches could become widespread, and the avalanche danger could bump up to High. 

As temperatures warm, wet avalanches could run at lower elevations. Rollerballs and wet, heavy snow are the first signs of this problem. These avalanches are likely to be small, but they could push you into the myriad of exposed obstacles at lower elevations. We've been tracking the 2/13 buried surface hoar and facets around the 2/7 crust. Avalanche activity on these layers was isolated to wind-loaded terrain after the last February and early March storms, and we haven't had any activity since March 2nd.  While these layers haven't shown signs of reactivity in a while, this storm could change that. It's the first big test we've had, so with increased uncertainty, ease into the terrain and dig down to identify any strong over weak layering before committing to consequential, steep slopes. 

Regions covered