Avalanche forecast

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

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Out of date — this forecast expired 6 months ago.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

Highlights

Recent remotely triggered slides, shooting cracks, whumpfs, well known weaklayers in the upper snowpack, and a sizable storm all point towards the same conclusion. You could encounter particularly tricky and dangerous avalanche conditions. Seek out lower angled and lower consequence terrain to enjoy the new snow.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

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

    This storm may seem normal and like no big deal, but the underlying old snow pack isn’t. For more than ten days, we’ve been tracking layers of buried surface hoar and facets in the upper snowpack. This weekend, they started to wake up. Plenty of red flag signs exist in the East Central and nearby zones; remotely triggered slides, avalanche breaking widely and low on the slope, long shooting cracks, audible collapses, significant test results, and large persistent grains. 

    So far, most of the activity has been localized to wind loaded areas. These slopes will remain dangerous. However, as more snow falls and temperatures warm, all steep open terrain becomes suspect. You can use small slopes, hand pits, and snowpack tests to look for and assess these weak layers, but they can only prove the presence of the problem, not its absence. They can’t tell you a slope is ‘safe.’ 

    This is a good time to dial it back, keep your terrain choices simple, and be extra cautious.

    (2/21/2026)

    This unintentionally triggered avalanche propagated widely and failed low on the slope in the nearby Snoqualmie zone.  N, 5500ft.  It's unconfirmed, but this slide may have failed on older persistent grains. 

    Photo: NWAC

Avalanche Discussion

Another winter storm will bring additional snowfall, warming temperatures, and strong winds to the East Central zone Sunday night into Monday morning. The storm's peak should occur near or just before sunrise. Given the weak snowpack and potential for intense wind loading, natural avalanches aren’t out of the question. One things for sure, this storm isn’t going to help the avalanche conditions. While more snow is expected near the crest, even locations farther east could see a quick 4-6 inches. Winds should finally shift back to a more typical SW direction, but don’t let that fool you. S-SE winds the past few days may have loaded some unusual slopes. 

Below all the recent snow are a series of potential weak layers, including the 2/13 buried surface hoar and facets over the 2/7 crust. In some locations, these layers may be easy to identify, or there could just be a crust and no weak snow. On Sunday, an avalanche professional traveling in the Salmon la Sac area reported audible whumpfs below 5100ft. Meanwhile, in the far eastern part of the zone, Mission Ridge Ski Patrol remotely triggered several small wind slabs on buried surface hoar. The critical observations occurred with minimal additional snow over the persistent grains. 

It would be great to think the recent snow magically fixed our travel woes, but it didn’t. The snowpack is still painfully thin, particularly in the trees, at lower elevations, and on southerly slopes. Creeks, holes, and logs make routes meander or even impassable. Give yourself time to deal with our persistent ‘early season’ conditions.

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