Avalanche forecast

East Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

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Out of date — this forecast expired 2 years ago.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

Highlights

Wednesday may start with borderline high danger after heavy rain fell throughout the zone. As the day progresses, winds and cooling temperatures will start to refreeze a destabilized snowpack. Avoid large avalanche paths, runouts, and other open slopes steeper than 35 degrees until firm, supportable crusts form.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

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

    Heavy rain will introduce liquid water into the snowpack, rapidly increasing the likelihood of wet snow avalanches. These slides could take various forms; wet loose, wet slab, or even glide. Additionally, you might see cornices sag and collapse. Regardless of what you call them, you’re not going to want to hang out on or below large paths where slides could grow large enough to bury or kill you. Be wary of precariously hanging blocks of snow that might break above or below you. Peak instability for large wet slab avalanches will be in the very early morning hours, then drop to possible during the day.

    Until water has time to drain out or refreeze, avalanches will be of concern. Don’t linger in terrain traps where avalanche debris can concentrate and be aware of steep terrain overhead where avalanches can start. Particularly on slopes with wet sloppy snow, consider avoiding avalanche terrain until the snowpack has fully refrozen.

    (12/9/2024)

    A small skier triggered wet loose avalanche at Lichtenberg Mtn in the Steven's Pass zone.

    Photo: Katie Warren

Avalanche Discussion

Hopefully, you got some fun whoops and hollers out on Tuesday because conditions will have drastically deteriorated by Wednesday. The rainfall Tuesday night on all our nice new snow will rapidly destabilize the snowpack at all elevations and make for some questionable travel in the backcountry.

You might see different types of wet snow avalanches depending on the specific timing and location that you’re out. If rainwater permeates down into buried weak layers, we will see large wet slab avalanches failing at these layers. Don’t be caught off guard by a wet slab avalanche that releases in the daytime hours, especially in areas where lingering pockets of rain above 4000 feet persist.

All in all, if the snow is still heavy and sticky, continue to stay out of avalanche terrain.

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