Avalanche forecast

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

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

You could trigger shallow wind slabs near and above treeline in the western part of the zone where more new snow is expected. Look for clues such as firm or textured surfaces, and steer around steep slopes if you find shooting cracks with freshly formed slabs. 

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    A few inches of new snow combined with strong winds should create fresh, reactive slabs at upper elevations. You're more likely to find these at higher elevations where wind effects should be more prevalent. Slabs could break on a newly formed crust from previous days of warm temperatures. Be especially cautious near ridges, beneath large cliffs, and on open steep slopes, that could serve as likely trigger points. 

    You can identify slabs through textured surfaces, and stiffer snow. With these, look for signs of instability as you travel such as long shooting cracks, and consider using small test slopes to gain more information on how the snow is reacting. If you observe signs of unstable snow, steer steeper or more consequential features.

    Example of actively building drifts. Notice the fracture near the edge of the wind lip, indicating touchy conditions. Photo: Matt Primomo

Avalanche Discussion

We're in for a change with cooler temperatures and some welcome new snow, at least in the western part of the zone. The eastern Wenatchee mountains may hardly see a flake with a strong snow shadow east of the crest, unfortunately. The snow may or may not bond well to the mixed bag of surface conditions, mostly crust but some weak snow does exist on sheltered and shaded mid to higher elevation slopes.

On Wednesday, NWAC forecaster Katie Warren went for a tour near Hex Mountain in the lower Salmon la Sac. She found that warming temperatures were competing with a breeze to slowly soften snow surfaces. She was able to initiate small wet loose slides on steep slopes in the sun. We've been tracking a layer of buried surface hoar from January 4th that has caused numerous human triggered and widely propagating avalanches over the past month. On Tuesday, I went to the Entiat River Drainage to investigate. I found the layer to be consistent throughout the terrain, and was producing sudden collapse test results. A crust from MLK weekend caps this layer, and in most places it's fairly stout. However in some areas in the Entiat I found it to be quite thin. This leads us to believe there could be some very isolated areas where triggering an avalanche on this persistent layer remains possible. The last reported avalanche on this layer was on the 19th on the east side of the Stevens Pass zone on an East aspect at 6,200ft. You should still consider digging down to identify this layer if traveling in sheltered northerly aspects near and above treeline, especially if you find a thin or non-existent crust about 1ft down. 

Regions covered