Avalanche forecast

Snoqualmie Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sun
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

On Saturday, you're most likely to trigger an avalanche in wind-affected snow. Slabs may be found lower in the terrain or on different aspects than you're used to. Use visual clues to help determine wind-loaded slopes and then avoid common features where the wind likes to sift the snow into unstable drifts.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Wind slabs should be larger and more reactive as you ascend in elevation. Due to changes in the wind direction, they could exist on various aspects or in locations where you're not used to finding them, such as mid-slope. Regardless of their aspect, wind slabs like to form near the base of cliffs, the sides of gullies, on convex slopes, or near ridgelines. Use visual clues such as newly built cornices, textured surfaces, or large pillow-like drifts to help identify wind-loaded features to avoid. Don't ignore red flags of instability such as shooting cracks or recent avalanches. Instead, let them steer you toward lower-angled slopes where triggering a slab is less likely. 

    (1/3/2025) 

    Small human-triggered slab on a steep rocky slope. The wind likes to sift the snow to the base of cliffs and rocks to form wind slabs.

    Photo: Lucas Cairns

Avalanche Discussion

Saturday will be a lull between storm systems at Snoqualmie Pass. That doesn't mean the snowpack is taking the day off. Recent snow and wind have resulted in plenty of human-triggered avalanches over the past week. Triggering a slide of your own remains possible on Saturday. 

On Friday, avalanche professionals, public observations, and The Summit at Snoqualmie Pro Patrol all had similar reports - plenty of wind effect, especially as you ascend in elevation. Shooting cracks, shallow slabs, textured surfaces, and new cornice development were all observed. A few shallow avalanches were triggered by skiers on Mount Snoqualmie.

A subtle interface near the base of the recent storm snow seems to be cropping up and producing widely breaking avalanches in neighboring zones. We don't have good confirmation that a similar issue exists at Snoqualmie Pass, but you may want to step back from your typical post-storm objectives to gather more information. If slabs fail on persistent grains, they could break widely or connect terrain features.

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