Avalanche forecast

Snoqualmie Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Mon
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

Keep an eye out for precariously hanging blocks of snow near ridgelines or rocky ledges that could produce a large avalanche on Sunday. If you spot one, give it a wide berth by not traveling on or below it. A variety of snow surfaces await you if you return to the mountains, potentially making travel difficult. 

Avalanche problems

  • Glide Cracks

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2

    Wet avalanches will continue to be a concern on Sunday, despite the cooling temperatures and perhaps a dusting of snow. Liquid water can linger in the snowpack and produce avalanches for days after it has stopped raining. Keep an eye out for large crevasse-like cracks, hanging blocks of snow, or sagging cornices that could release unexpectedly and produce a large avalanche. These avalanches are unpredictable, so your best mitigation tool is to recognize the terrain where they are more likely and give it a wide berth.

    (1/14/2023)

    This Glide avalanche occurred between closing on 1/13 and opening on 1/14 within the Alpental Ski area.  [Shot 6 NE 4900']

    Photo: Alpental Pro Patrol

Avalanche Discussion

On Sunday, we will continue to distance ourselves from an atmospheric river that resulted in a wet avalanche cycle earlier this week at Snoqualmie Pass. Pictures and observations are starting to trickle in and it appears that there were widespread Wet Slab and Wet Loose avalanches throughout the zone. One such observation from Alpental Pro Patrol relayed that one of their frequent glide slopes had failed at some point between closing on Friday and opening Saturday morning. This failure happened after the precipitation had ended and temperatures started to cool, highlighting our concern for avalanches like this on Sunday.

Further up the Alpental Valley, avalanche professionals reported finding multiple recent avalanches and some difficult travel conditions on Friday. It appears that the recent rain did not soak as deeply into the snowpack as originally anticipated, and that dry snow still exists between the wetted surface and the prominent Christmas Crust. Skiers in a similar area reported similar avalanche findings and variable travel conditions on Saturday. On the more Eastern reaches of the zone, snowbikers reported recent wet avalanche activity and larger rollerballs, along with a breakable surface crust.

The likelihood of you triggering a consequential avalanche has decreased significantly since the end of the storm, but there is still the chance that larger wet slides could occur. Because of this threat, we cannot call conditions generally safe at this time. Even below treeline where the snowpack is generally beat up due to multiple rounds of liquid precipitation, there are Glide slopes that could still fail. We also haven’t cooled quite enough to fully “lock up” these lower elevations and some incoming drizzle could help maintain wet and soggy conditions down low on Sunday.

Expect to find a variety of surfaces in the mountains, some of which may make travel difficult. You could encounter wet and punchy snow, breakable or firm crusts, runneled “humps”, swollen creeks, exposed natural hazards, or refrozen avalanche debris during your time out.

Regions covered