Avalanche forecast

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Wed
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
No rating
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Out of date — this forecast expired 9 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Despite cooling temperatures, at elevations where we have a continuous snowpack, steep rock slabs or cliffs may still shed snow. Avoid lingering beneath these features and move to lower-angle slopes if you're sinking into deep, wet snow. Strong to extreme winds will be an additional challenge to navigate on Tuesday. 

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

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

    Most elevations throughout the zone saw rain to the highest peaks, and limited snow exists at mid and lower elevations. But if you're putting in the work to get into the upper elevations, still holding onto a meager snowpack, watch for steep smooth slopes, rocks, or cliffs that may shed snow from above.  Don't linger or stop for a snack beneath these features.

    Cooling temperatures will likely begin to re-freeze our soggy snowpack, but it will take some time. So monitor the snow as you travel, because you could trigger a wet avalanche if your sinking into heavy, wet snow.

    (3/27/2025)

    An example of a small wet avalanche that ran on smooth ground. These will be overhead hazards to avoid on Tuesday. 

    Photo: Katie Warren

Avalanche Discussion

After another heavy dose of rain overnight on Monday, temperatures should cool. Strong to Extreme ridgeline winds are also on Tuesday's list of unpleasant weather features. So, despite the cooler and drier weather, it's not going to be a great day for mountain travel. It's also up for debate how much snow vs. rain we'll get out of the cooldown. If the cooldown occurs quicker than expected, we might pick up a few inches of fresh snow. The winds mentioned above could quickly build isolated wind slabs at upper elevations. So if you find dry snow deeper than about 6 inches, watch for cracks shooting out from your equipment as a sign to avoid steep, wind-loaded slopes.

There currently isn't enough snow down low for us to issue a hazard rating. As you ascend in elevation, it's more winterlike. However, the snowpack is not particularly deep—a couple of feet at most. We don't have new information from the first round of high-elevation rain. But we suspect even mid-elevations are looking pretty grim at this point.

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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