Avalanche forecast

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Thu
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
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Out of date — this forecast expired 5 months ago.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

Areas along the Cascade Crest, especially the Salmon La Sac, will receive the most rain in a 24 hour period that the zone has seen this week. The snowpack throughout the rest of the zone has wetted and weakened too, even without extensive rain. With weather conditions such as this, Wednesday is a good day to dial it back to lower angle terrain where you won't trigger a small or large avalanche.

Avalanche problems

  • Wet Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1.5–2.5

    At middle and upper elevations, instability in weak layers buried 4-5 feet down in the snowpack could suddenly reawaken as water worms its way in. Wet slab avalanches are nearly impossible to predict, but we're experiencing the right weather factors for this problem to turn on. If you are traveling in the Salmon La Sac or nearby areas, you should avoid avalanche terrain unless you are willing to dig down into the snowpack to ensure that buried weak layers are still dry. As you move to the east of the zone, the likelihood of triggering a wet slab avalanche decreases, but it is not impossible. Hazard will peak on Wednesday morning, soon after most of the rain has started.

    It remains possible to trigger smaller wet loose avalanches throughout the zone at all elevations. We think this problem has mostly run its course, but we can't completely rule it out, given the lack of observations. You can find a small but very steep test slope to push on and see if the surface snow wants to slide. Don't linger directly under cliffy terrain or sagging cornices where a heavy block of snow could fall and hurt you or trigger a slide. An avalanche of wet, heavy snow will be hard to escape and can carry you into terrain traps below. 

    (3/8/2026)

    An example of a large wet slab avalanche that released on buried weak layers after a period of rain.

    Photo: Mt Baker Ski Patrol

Avalanche Discussion

Since the onset of rain, weather stations along the Cascade Crest have collected 0.7-0.9 inches of water. The Salmon La Sac is forecasted to get another 1.15" of rain while this forecast is valid. That's a lot of water entering the snowpack, where weak layers we have been tracking since early February lurk. This includes facets around a crust that formed on 02/07, and surface hoar that was buried on 02/13. Over in the Wenatchees, Mission Ridge Pro Patrol reported that the 02/07 facets and crust were getting wet on Monday, despite not getting much rain. It is also notable that on Sunday, Mission Patrol used a small explosive to trigger a large (D2.5) slab avalanche in wind loaded terrain that released in facets above the 02/07 crust. They also triggered a very large (D3) avalanche with a larger explosive. We don't have any new info for the La Sac, but one can deduce that conditions are deteriorating, and that there is some likelihood of triggering a deadly avalanche throughout the zone. 

It should generally be a cloudy day in the East Central zone on Wednesday, but some sun breaks may occur here and there. This will only add heat and melt to the snowpack. There was an active wet loose avalanche cycle nearby in the Snoqualmie Pass zone on Stampede Pass on Monday. Numerous other avalanche reports have continued to trickle in throughout the rest of the forecast region. But then an NWAC Forecaster traveling on Blewett Pass on Tuesday reported no new wet loose activity, and this is one of the only new data pieces for the zone. Therefore, we can't be certain a wet loose cycle has completely run its course in East Central, so enter into the backcountry with an air of caution regarding this problem.

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