Avalanche forecast

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

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

You’re most likely to encounter an avalanche in wind affected terrain and areas closer to the Cascade crest where there is more recent snow. It may be harder than normal to predict exactly which slopes are safe and which are not. Fortunately, there’s plenty of fun soft snow in lower angle and treed terrain. 

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1.5–2

    Last weekend’s storms buried a well-documented layer of sugary facets, thin crusts, and feather surface hoar. Collapses, whumpfs, and significant snowpack tests were observed in the zone, but no confirmed avalanches. 

    That doesn’t mean it’s not a dangerous problem. If anything thing it makes it a bit more unpredictable. All the ingredients are there, and don’t expect the snowpack to give you any big warning signs. Most slopes probably won’t slide, but that’s a big bet. And the consequences of being wrong could be dire. 

    The only way to deal with this beast is avoidance. Steep, open slopes on shaded aspects are all suspect. You’re most likely to trigger one of these avalanches where there’s more than a foot of recent snow, especially if the wind or settlement helped stiffen the slab.

    (2/3/2025)

    Example: A skier triggered persistent slab avalanche near White Pass. This slide released over a 100ft wide and 2-3ft deep. WNW, 5600ft SS-ASu-D2-R2-O

    Photo: Dallas Glass

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Higher in the terrain, the wind formed small slabs along the lee sides of ridges and mid-slope gullies. Textured surfaces, sharp wind lips, or fresh drifts should all clue you into the presence of this problem. Be leery of nearby slightly firmer pillow-like slabs. 

    Even if these shallow avalanches aren’t much of a hazard on their own, they could trigger the more dangerous persistent slab. Since most of the recent snow is near the Crest, you’re most likely to encounter this issue near Salmon la Sac and other drainages further west in the zone.

    Human triggered small, isolated wind slabs in the Blewett Pass area on Saturday. 

    Photo: Payton Schiff

Avalanche Discussion

While you could see a few flurries to start Sunday, we’re at the beginning of several dry, but chilly days. Sunshine, particularly in the afternoon, could cause snowballs to fall out of the trees or off rocks. They may even trigger small loose avalanches. Fortunately, the cold temperatures should keep this from becoming a major issue. 

The recent snow is very light and unconsolidate. Some parts of the zone received quite a bit, while others picked up very little. When the soft snow sits over a crust, the most likely avalanche you see could be a small dry loose sluff in very steep terrain. 

Below the recent snow, several potential weak layers exist. Whether they formed during the January Drough (JDL) or facets around the 1/10 crust, or something older. It appears at the moment what these weaklayers need is a slab. Could the recent snow settle into one? Sure, but that’s really challenging to predict. On SE-S-W aspects, sunshine and warm temperatures destroyed most of the weak snow and formed a more robust crust. We generally aren’t worried about persistent weaklayers on these sunnier aspects. 

While the snowpack lower in the terrain is very weak, there hasn’t been enough new snow to present any real problem. Down in the forest, shallowly buried obstacles and open creeks continue to be an issue.

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