Avalanche forecast

Snoqualmie Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Fri
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
No rating
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Out of date — this forecast expired 8 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

With the eye-popping amounts of water this week, and more rain expected Thursday, blocks of snow could fall from steep, rocky slopes. It’s just not the time to dilly-dally under this terrain. Look for routes that help reduce how long you travel underneath these slopes.

Avalanche problems

  • Glide Cracks

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

    The avalanche hazard has more to do with snow falling down on you rather than you triggering a slide. After numerous days of very heavy rain, there may not be much snow left to shed. However, at this point, so much water is moving through and underneath the snowpack; don’t trust any block of snow still clinging to very steep, rocky slopes. You won’t be able to assess if or when it will fall. So, look for ways to limit the time you spend under it. 

    It doesn’t take a big, snowy alpine face to produce one of these avalanches. Any steep, snow covered rock will do. Fortunately, in many spots there’s not that much snow. This will help limit the size of any avalanche. As you get higher, thicker snowpacks could produce larger slides. 

    With so much recent water, the snow in some locations could be truly saturated. Wet avalanches gouging through the snow or running on the ground aren’t out of the question. If you see one of these slides, the rain is winning. There’s not much you can do in times like this other than avoid similar slopes.

    (3/2/2025)

    Example: Smaller slopes like this could continue to shed snow with all the rain. Snow precariously hanging to a rocky ledge with a waterfall running down the middle.

    Photo: Andy Harrington

Avalanche Discussion

It’s hard to even imagine the amount of water recorded this week at Snoqualmie Pass. Since Monday morning, over 12 inches of rain has fallen at the Pass, and more is on the way. We don’t really have a reference for events like this. Combine that with an unusually thin and variable early season snowpack and a lack of on the ground observations, and the forecast becomes even more unclear. 

What do you say about such a unique situation? It certainly hasn’t helped the snow coverage at the Pass. Down low, there’s not even enough snow to present any avalanche danger. We may have lost so much snow at middle elevations that there isn’t a hazard there either. We’ll have to wait until the storm ends to truly take stock of the damage. 

Accessing the snow is one of your greatest challenges at the moment. Expect long, muddy hikes just to get to the snowline. And, once you’re there, exposed rocks, holes, creeks, and bushes will make travel slow and challenging. There is probably a real snowpack if you get high enough, but we’re not sure exactly where that line is. 

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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