Avalanche forecast

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 4 years ago.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

At upper elevations, you may still be able to trigger avalanches in wind-drifted snow. Likely locations to find slabs would be ridgelines, the base of cliffs, and steep rolls in open terrain. Use caution in consequential terrain and steer around these stiff, textured drifts of snow if you see shooting cracks or other signs of instability. 

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    While not much new snow fell throughout the East Central Zone, the wind easily drifted this low-density snow into deeper wind slabs on lee aspects. Wind slabs will only slowly gain strength with the cold temperatures. And while they are most likely to be small and isolated to steep terrain features at high elevations, even small avalanches could have high consequences in extreme terrain. Features such as steep ridgelines, confined chutes, and the base of cliffs are probable locations to trigger one of these avalanches. Wind slabs can be identified by textured snow surfaces, actively blowing snow, and rounded pillowlike drifts. You can also use quick hand pits to identify stiff wind-deposited snow over softer layers. If stiff snow slides easily in hand pits or you observe signs of unstable snow such as shooting cracks, steer around steeper, more consequential features.

    (12/30/2022)

    Example of long shooting cracks in a fresh wind slab. These long cracks are bullseye information of unstable wind slabs.

    Photo: Rob Pollard

Avalanche Discussion

Lower elevations did not pick up much snow, and southern aspects already had slick sun crusts that formed over the last few days. However, with temperatures warming into the upper 20s(°F) and sunny skies, you may find a rogue rollerball or small wet avalanche on steep slopes in direct sun. 

The last significant storm in the East Central area was over MLK weekend. This warm storm buried the 1/4 layer of surface hoar and created a now easily identifiable melt-freeze crust in the snowpack. While we are still tracking the 1/4 surface hoar layer, it is unlikely you could find a location to trigger an avalanche on this layer beneath the MLK crust. Subsequent small storms have since buried The MLK crust 1-2 feet deep in most areas. A thin layer of weak, faceted snow exists just above the MLK crust. So far, it has not proved reactive, but that could change with additional loading events. Significant wind events have also occurred, and observations from higher-elevation exposed terrain indicate stiff wind-affected surfaces on most aspects. The sun has also been a strong player for the last few days, and thick, icy crusts now exist on southern aspects. These variable surfaces now have just a few inches of snow on top. So you can expect challenging travel conditions out there, consider bringing appropriate equipment to travel safely on steep icy terrain.

Regions covered