Snoqualmie Pass

Quiet weather and generally safe avalanche conditions will continue on Tuesday at Snoqualmie Pass. You may see more clouds in the sky than in recent days, but it should be a bit warmer. Avalanche hazard is never totally eliminated, so be sure to manage terrain appropriately. 

Tuesday should be another day lacking significant weather input, therefore keeping us at low avalanche hazard throughout the zone. As we like to remind you, a low hazard rating doesn't mean that avalanche hazard is non-existent. You could still run into issues in extreme terrain or isolated areas. 

If you were to find an avalanche, our guess is that it would be a wind-loaded pocket at mid to upper elevations, either near a ridgeline, on a convex feature, or in a confined chute. It will likely be small, but even small avalanches can be consequential if you’re swept off your feet near terrain traps. You could even see a few rollerballs and maybe some isolated Wet Loose activity during tomorrow’s rise in temperatures. 

Less likely, but grabbing more of our attention as of late, are some older layers that have shown signs of weakening - the MLK, 1/18, 1/21, and 1/27. Most of these interfaces involve weak snow near crusts. When these were buried, we did not see much avalanche activity. We still haven’t, but as we’ve watched them over the past few weeks, we have seen these layers start to change and produce more concerning test results. They could eventually reach a tipping point and start to activate. Time will tell. 

The 1/28 is our newest crust that exists on slopes that see direct sunshine and is now capped by an inch or two of snow and surface hoar. On Sunday, faceting snow around this interface was reported by NWAC forecasters and avalanche professionals and test results were failing consistently. There isn’t enough snow above this interface for an issue right now, but whenever we get back into a more snowy pattern, we’ll have our eye on this interface along with all of the others. On shady and protected slopes, you'll likely still be able to find well-settled powder with less of a crust, but still plenty of surface hoar.