Avalanche forecast

Snoqualmie Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Mon
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
3 · Considerable
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Highlights

Continued hot, sunny weather will maintain the potential for particularly dangerous wet avalanches. Snow could shed from steep faces and trigger slides on the slopes below. Look for ways to minimize or even eliminate any time you spend on or under avalanche terrain.

Avalanche problems

  • Glide Cracks

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2

    Glide avalanches, cornice collapses, wet slabs, and blocks of snow falling from rocky faces all fall into a similar category, shed-style avalanches. While you might not typically trigger these slides, they present a significant overhead hazard. Pay close attention to the terrain above you. Limit any time you spend underneath crevasse like cracks, drooping cornices, and snow-covered rocky faces. During this heat, all of these features are ticking time bombs waiting to release.

    (3/16/2024)

    A glide crack opening on Rockface in the Alpental Ski Area. 

    Photo: Alpental Ski Patrol

  • Loose Wet

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

    You’re dealing with two types of wet loose avalanches. Most of the avalanche activity we’ve seen so far during this warm-up has been relatively small and only entraining the surface snow. You may still trigger these on steep slopes or see them run naturally as snow sheds from rocks and trees. A weak surface crust will help limit these smaller slides in the morning, but as it quickly breaks down, additional natural avalanches will occur. 

    The other type is much scarier. These wet loose slides gouge into the older snow, grow much larger, and travel far down slope. They are much less predictable, and you don’t want to be in their way. These are most likely in larger, rocky terrain where slides have time to gain steam. They could even run down into gullies at lower elevations.

    Wet avalanche debris in a very common travel corridor of Snoqualmie Pass. (3/16/2024) Photo: Daniel Peck

Avalanche Discussion

We’re in the middle of a prolonged spring warm-up. These wet avalanche cycles a rife with uncertainty. They may be the hardest conditions we forecast. However, there are a few things we do know. 

  • It’s HOT! Really hot. Saturday night will be the 3rd night in a row above freezing, and temperatures on Sunday should easily reach into the 50s.
  • Often three nights of above-freezing temperatures is a benchmark when we expect the mountains to start to fall apart. 
  • Lighter winds on Sunday will allow it to feel much hotter than previous days. 
  • Natural avalanches will occur. They could take many shapes and sizes. 

We don’t know exactly where, when, what type, or how big all of these avalanches will be. That makes this particular avalanche problem particularly dangerous and much harder to manage. 

Observations from Thursday, Friday, and Saturday showed an ongoing loose wet avalanche cycle. These slides began to occur even on shaded aspects on Friday and Saturday. Alpental Patrol noted glide cracks and drooping cornices in nearby terrain.

This multi-day cycle isn’t finished yet, and only time will tell when peak danger actually occurred. 

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