Avalanche forecast

Snoqualmie Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 4 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

We’re headed back to stormy, winter-like weather on Monday. Keep an eye out for areas of wind-drifted snow to steer around as you ascend in elevation. If you find rain falling on dry snow at lower elevations, be leery of steep slopes where a wet avalanche could knock you off your feet.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Monday will be a return to snowy and windy conditions and you could see some freshly built Wind Slabs by day’s end. As the snow starts to pile up and the winds continue to blow, look for these unstable pockets of snow to develop on the leeward side of ridgelines, convex features, or in rocky terrain such as the base of cliffs and confined chutes. You could encounter some unusual loading patterns with slabs forming on aspects you’re not used to or more cross-loading than usual. Since they will be forming during the storm, you can look for actively blowing snow or fresh drifts to help you identify wind-loaded features that should be avoided.

    (4/16/2022)

    Example: Cracking in wind-drifted areas is a red-flag sign of instability.

    Photo: Dallas Glass

Avalanche Discussion

After a warm and sunny Easter Sunday, we have another cold and snowy pattern on our doorstep for Monday. This storm should develop throughout the day, meaning avalanche hazard should rise as the snow piles up and intensities increase. We expect this round of precipitation to be a little warmer than what we’ve experienced the past few weeks, with a slow warming trend throughout the day. This could result in lower elevations seeing some rain or a rain/snow mix. If you find that rain is falling on cold dry snow, the potential for Wet Loose avalanches may be increasing. The question could be how much cold dry snow is left at these elevations after our sunny Sunday. The most likely location to find some will be on shady or sun-protected slopes. 

That same logic can be applied to mid and upper elevations. New snow will be falling on a variety of surfaces including colder and drier snow on shady slopes or firmer melt-freeze crusts on sunny slopes. The surface the new snow is overlaying could help drive the size and likelihood of you triggering a slide. Take a moment to check the bonding of the storm snow to the old surface before committing to a slope. We anticipate most avalanches to be isolated to the new accumulation, but on those shadier slopes we could see some break into older layers. There is currently 2-2.5 feet of snow sitting above the 4/8 interface and we are not concerned about anything below this interface at the moment. 

We have extended our forecasting due to the stormy weather to help you out. That means we still need you to share information with us by submitting public observations about what you're seeing out there. Help us build a better product for you.

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