Avalanche forecast

West Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

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Out of date — this forecast expired 3 years ago.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

Highlights

A few more inches of snow and strong winds could form a few isolated slabs in exposed terrain, particularly at upper elevations. Be leery of smooth firm pillow-like drifts on convex or unsupported slopes. Even still, the greatest hazard continues to be the variable travel conditions.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1

    At higher elevations several inches of snow already exist on the ground. This may combine with new snow Sunday night/Monday and strong winds to form generally shallow slabs. These wind slabs should be small and isolated but are the only real avalanche concern on Monday. With the E-SE wind direction, you could find these pillow-like pockets in some odd locations. Look for blowing snow, textured surfaces, and sharp wind-lips to point toward loaded terrain. Be leery of firmer slabs that could break above you and take you for a ride despite their small size.

    (12/30/2023)

    Snow plastered on a tree trunk and small drifts help show the local wind direction. 

    Photo: Dallas Glass

Avalanche Discussion

A weak storm should bring a few inches of snow to the West South zone on Sunday night and Monday. This shouldn’t be enough to increase the avalanche danger, but it will, to some extent, change the narrative. 

With a very stout Early February crust in place, we’re entirely turning our attention to new snow problems. Observations from the weekend indicated many locations held 1-3 inches of recent snow over the crust. In some places, weak surface hoar and near surface facets developed. While this isn’t currently an issue, it’s worth watching as we move forward. It could result in the snow “not sticking” to the crust or just sluffing off. 

At lower elevations, the snowpack may still be wet and punchy. So, even if it rains, it shouldn’t make a difference. It's doubtful you could trigger a slide in these areas, even on very steep slopes. 

The greatest challenge continues to be variable travel conditions. You could encounter wet punchy snow, breakable crust, icy slopes, irregular surfaces, open holes, flowing creeks, glide cracks, and frozen debris. At lower elevations, a return to very thin or discontinuous coverage could make access difficult. 

While not directly relevant to Monday’s forecast, we continue to receive reports of very large wet avalanches from last week’s atmospheric river. One such slide was spotted on the W side of Mt Adams Saturday. This gigantic avalanche snaked and bulldozed its way downhill for thousands of feet.

Regions covered