Temperatures will slowly cool, and wind and new snow could form shallow slabs on the highest slopes. Wet avalanche conditions will persist until a thorough freeze occurs. Stay off of steep terrain where you find wet snow and avoid being under cornices and large slopes, where avalanches could come down from above.
While wet avalanches are becoming less common, they can still occur. Shallow wet slides could occur in recent snow as the day warms. If you find areas where recently formed crusts are breaking down, watch for larger, wet avalanches running in older snow. Pay attention to overhead terrain and avoid lingering below cornices and steep, rocky slopes that could shed large chunks of snow.
If you're venturing into upper elevations east of the Cascade crest, take time to dig and look for potential weak layers in the top 3-4 feet of the snowpack. When in doubt, choose more conservative, simpler terrain.
There is uncertainty surrounding older, weaker layers of snow. At upper elevations, there's still a possibility of triggering very large avalanches. These chances are greater near and east of Mazama and Harts Pass, where a shallower, weaker snowpack structure exists. It will be difficult to trigger avalanches on buried weak layers where you find that they're capped with stout, frozen crusts.
(3/26/2025)
A very large slab avalanche north of Willow Creek near the Wine Spires. This ran naturally around March 25th. NW, 7,000ft.
WS-N-D3-O
Photo: WSDOT
On Saturday, you could encounter very shallow fresh slabs of snow at upper elevations. This is the only place where dry snow avalanche hazard may exist, and it will be minimal and shallow. A dusting of recent snow and wind gusts may have formed some very shallow wind slabs. Otherwise, this weather will slowly help the rest of the snowpack start to freeze and gain strength.
On Wednesday, WSDOT forecasters in the Highway 20 corridor reported a widespread cycle of wet avalanches. The cycle likely started on the 24th and continued at least through the afternoon of the 26th. Many wet slides ran on a range of slopes, and some deeper slab avalanches were reported up to D3. As shown in the video above, they confirmed that the natural cycle was still ongoing on Wednesday.
Before warming and rain, the January Drought Layer was buried 2–3.5 ft and shallower east of Mazama. Near Rainy and Easy Passes, the JDL was over 4 feet deep and capped with a thick melt-freeze crust. On March 17, an observer near Tiffany Mountain reported widely propagating recent natural avalanches and rolling collapses on a weak layer in the middle to lower half of the snowpack. As observations have become limited, our uncertainty about the snowpack has become greater.
On February 28th, a snowmobiler was killed in an avalanche near Harts Pass. You can read NWAC's report on this accident HERE.
Submit an observation to the website or the Avy App to help NWAC Forecasters reduce uncertainty. It can be short, simple, and even anonymous.
