Avalanche forecast

Stevens Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sat
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Out of date — this forecast expired 5 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

You can trigger avalanches on steep slopes where recent snow is warmed by the sun or where the wind has formed fresh drifts. Steer around pillows of drifted snow on slopes over 35 degrees. If you find weak, wet snow that slides easily, move to lower-angle or shadier terrain.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–1.5

    On Friday, the skies will clear, and the sun will quickly melt the recent snow. Avalanches will be easy to trigger on underlying slick crusts. While loose avalanches will be shallow and predictable, they could pick up significant debris and could be forceful and dangerous. Use small test slopes to see how easily the snow slides before committing to bigger terrain. Use caution near terrain traps, where an avalanche could push you into rocks, trees, or gullies. Travel one at a time and stop out of the way of steep slopes where others are traveling.

  • Wind Slabs

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

    At upper elevations, you could trigger slab avalanches in wind-drifted snow. The recent snow could slide easily on slick crusts and weak old snow surfaces. Watch for cracking and recent drifts to indicate where you can trigger avalanches. Manage the risk by steering around wind-stiffened snow below ridges, drifts, and convex roll-overs where you suspect fresh wind slabs. Better yet, stay off steep, leeward slopes altogether. Seek out wind-sheltered terrain or slopes under 35 degrees. 

    (3/26/2026)

    Cross-loaded, wind-textured snow and a partially filled-in crowns of avalanches (D2) that occurred around 3/20. White Pine ck, 6,900ft, N-NE

    Photo: Josh Hirshberg

Avalanche Discussion

Another cool, blustery storm brought 5-6" of new snow with strong westerly winds to Stevens Pass by Thursday evening. While the snow warmed enough to trigger wet avalanches on southerly slopes, full sun will more thoroughly melt the snow on Friday. 

On Thursday, an NWAC forecaster near Skyline Lake found that the new snow was reasonably well bonded to old surfaces across a variety of aspects. They were able to trigger small wet avalanches on steep southeast slopes. By 12p there were minimal new wind-drifted slabs on mid-elevation leeward slopes. Slabs likely continued building throughout the day. In a similar area on Tuesday, an NWAC forecaster found a variety of conditions. On steep, northerly slopes, there was about 1 foot of soft snow over the stout, 3/25 crust. Some weak, faceted grains could be seen on and just below the surface. Many other slopes had crusts, which are now under the new snow. 

The recent snow will fall on a variety of surfaces. On northerly aspects, weak, faceted layers and recent storm snow could be buried, especially above 5,000ft. The new snow will fall on slick crusts on sun-exposed, east, south, and west aspects. At middle and upper elevations, old surfaces are wind-textured and drifted. On March 25th, Stevens Pass picked up 1-1.5 ft of snow, accompanied by strong westerly winds. This snow can still be found resting on a stout crust, about 1 foot below the surface. 

Prepare for low snow cover, open creeks, and icy surfaces, which create various travel hazards. 

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