Avalanche forecast

West Slopes North

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sun
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Out of date — this forecast expired 5 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Wet snowpack conditions will continue through the weekend. Avoid - or at least limit - travel directly below corniced ridgelines, glide cracks, cliffs, and large unsupported slopes. Expect a drastically altered mountain environment with open lakes and creeks, glide cracks, and lots of wet or crusty snow.

Avalanche problems

  • Glide Cracks

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1.5–2.5

    The wet, sloppy upper snowpack will start to firm up with colder temperatures overnight, but it’s a bit of a stretch to say it will be “locked up” by Saturday. Danger from glide avalanches, cornice fall, and other wet avalanche problems will keep the danger from dropping to Low. 

    While you might be able to push some wet snow around on steep slopes, the real danger comes from large, very unpredictable, but low-likelihood events where a large chunk of snow comes unglued from the mountain.

    These aren’t the kind of problems for which you can evaluate stability. It’s also unlikely that you would trigger one. The only real risk mitigation strategy is to limit exposure to terrain below cornices, snowy cliffs, glide cracks, wrinkled-looking snow, and anything else that looks sketchy and poorly attached to the mountain.

    (3/18/2026)

    A before and after photo of a chunk of snow breaking off a rocky perch during soggy weather. 

    Photo: Zack McGill - Cascade Mtn Ascents

Avalanche Discussion

If you get into alpine terrain, you might find dry snow and storm or wind slab avalanche problems. Evaluate stability before heading into steep terrain. Strong sun could help initiate wet avalanches in the uppermost layer of new snow.

It’s worth totaling precipitation amounts and other stats now that the rainfall is more or less over. The numbers in some locations are eye-popping. The Martin Ridge SNOTEL picked up over 12” of precipitation since Monday, with Heather Meadows and Middle Fork Nooksack each getting around 8” in the same time period. 

As usual, these totals drop as you head east, with only 3.1” of rain at the Park Creek Ridge SNOTEL (located at the junction of West North, West Central, and East North). Snowpack depths lost significant ground, with nearly all stations showing a 20–25% reduction in total snow depth since seasonal highs last weekend. Temperatures at all elevations hovered in the upper 30s and low 40s for the entire week.

Avalanche observations have been limited to terrain immediately adjacent to Heather Meadows. Periods of improving visibility over the weekend should help us get a better sense of the extent of avalanche activity over the last five days.

Regions covered