Avalanche forecast

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sun
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 8 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

You could trigger an avalanche where wind drifts snow into stiff slabs on steep terrain below ridgelines. With variable existing surfaces, avalanches may be hard to trigger on one slope and easy on another. Watch for drifting snow or long shooting cracks in textured drifts as signs to steer around steep slopes. 

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Look for textured surfaces, actively blowing snow, or cornice formations to identify wind-loaded slopes. You're most likely to encounter unstable wind slabs at upper elevations on lee slopes below ridgelines. You can use small test features to see whether the snow cracks or triggers a mini-avalanche.  Hand pits are another great way to quickly assess the bond to the old snow surface across many different slopes as you travel. If the surface snow slides easily, it is more unstable. Cracking or easy-hand shears should point you toward lower-angle terrain as a safer option. 

    Wind slabs can be easily triggered if they form over existing weak snow surfaces or slick crusts. Where snow falls on moist surfaces from warm temperatures, wind slabs may be more difficult to trigger. With this variability, analyze each slope individually. There isn't much fresh snow in the forecast, so most avalanches will be small. But always look below you and consider what the consequences would be if you got pushed off your feet or carried by sliding snow. 

    (1/31/2025)

    Hand shears like this are a quick and easy way to test the bond between new snow and old surfaces. 

    Photo: Dallas Glass

Avalanche Discussion

On Friday, the cold air pool east of the Cascades finally mixed out, and weather stations at all elevations rose to near or above freezing. Some light precipitation accompanied this warming trend, and the type of precipitation largely depended on your location in the zone. Reports of freezing rain at mid and lower elevations in the major passes and eastern valleys, and rain in areas further west. Upper elevations seemed to have stayed as snow for the most part. Before Friday's warmup, widespread weak snow surfaces existed throughout the zone, particularly on northerly aspects. We don't know how much, if any, of these weak surfaces survived the warm-up. But it could result in a variable, hard-to-pin-down distribution of avalanche sensitivity across the zone.  If these weak surfaces were preserved, we could see a transition from isolated wind slabs to more widespread storm slabs by the end of the weekend. If all surfaces got warm and wet on Friday, we could see much more stubborn avalanche conditions. 

At upper elevations in the Wenatchee Mountains on New Year's Day, we found a small amount of fresh snow that preserved a layer of surface hoar just below it. The mid and lower snowpack is interspersed with crusts and weak snow layers. A crust-facet combo buried about 8" deep produced some stubborn stability test results. Still, it'll be a layer to watch with additional snowfall. The 12/18 and December AR crust were unremarkable.

All the recent snow has made trail access and snow coverage less challenging. Even still, it’s tough going at lower elevations. Downed trees, open creeks, and grabby bushes make getting to deeper snowpacks a challenge. Plan extra time into your day to navigate these obstacles.

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