Avalanche forecast

Stevens Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
No rating
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Out of date — this forecast expired 9 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Expect heavy rain and increasing avalanche danger throughout Monday. Wet avalanches will be easy to trigger. Avoid steep slopes where you sink deeply into saturated snow, and watch out for rocks and gullies where natural wet avalanches may run from above. Conditions will be more dangerous at upper elevations, where rain will fall on dry snow.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

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

    Rollerballs, wet snow surfaces, and recent avalanches signal wet avalanche danger. Warming and rain will make wet avalanches easy to trigger and more likely to run naturally as the day progresses on Monday. Avoid steep slopes where you sink deeply into wet, heavy snow. Rock slabs, cliffs, and gullies are common locations for wet loose avalanches, so avoid lingering beneath these features.

    Rain has already impacted the snowpack at mid-elevations, making wet avalanches there more difficult to trigger and likely smaller. As you move into upper elevations, especially above 5500-6000ft, rain will fall on previously dry snow. In these upper zones, expect wet avalanches to be larger, easier to trigger, and more likely to run naturally from above.

    (2/1/2024)

    An example of wet avalanches running from steep rocks and cliffs. Avoid lingering beneath these features on Monday. 

    Photo: Josh Hirshberg

  • Storm Slabs

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

    At upper elevations, choose smaller terrain features and lower-angle slopes. With warming temperatures, storm slabs could be easy to trigger and large enough to injure or kill you. Indicators such as cracks shooting through the snow and recent avalanches are signs of sensitive storm slabs.  These dry snow problems likely only exist at the very highest elevations in the Stevens Pass area. As the day progresses and rain moves higher, these will likely transition quickly into a wet avalanche. But they should still be a factor for conservative decision-making if you find dry snow in high alpine zones. The most dangerous areas will be steep leeward sides of ridges, where strong winds will drift the new snow into deeper slabs.

    (2/16/2025)

    An example of cracking in recent snow. An indication that you could trigger a slab avalanche in steep terrain.  

    Photo: Katie Warren

Avalanche Discussion

The firehose turns on for Monday, bringing heavy rain well into the upper elevations. Most of our snowpack at low and mid-elevations is already thin and saturated, but expect sensitive conditions where rain falls on dry snow. The strong winds will be a factor, but with most elevations experiencing liquid precipitation, this will have less impact on avalanche hazard. This storm isn't going to help us build our snowpack, and bare ground is likely to creep higher into our middle elevation band over the next couple of days. You should prepare for challenging travel at low elevations and watch for rocks, logs, and open creeks. Due to the difficult travel conditions, we have limited information and increased uncertainty. If you venture out in the storm, you will need to make careful observations, snowpack assessments, and heed "red flag" warnings of unstable snow.With the warm start to the 25-26 winter season, we have less snowpack information than usual to start daily forecast operations. For zones and elevation bands with less snow than needed for avalanche hazard, we will issue a forecast with No Rating. Anticipated avalanche and weather conditions will still be updated daily. NWAC will issue an avalanche danger rating for a zone when enough snow to produce avalanches has accumulated at middle and upper elevations.

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