Avalanche forecast

West Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

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

Avalanche potential should increase throughout the day as snow surfaces soften in the sunshine. If you are sinking into the snow deeper than your ankle, the potential for triggering avalanches on steep sunny slopes exists. On firmer slopes, you could find challenging travel conditions where you won't want to slip and take a long uncontrolled fall.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

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

    Take note of how the snow surface is changing throughout the day due to the sun’s influence. If the top couple inches of snow is getting soft and wet, the potential for you to trigger a Wet Loose avalanche is increasing. New rollerballs or pinwheels are other indicators that the snow is reaching the threshold for producing these slides. On Sunday, these avalanches may be more easily initiated in shallow points in the snowpack such as near rocks and cliffs, especially on sunny slopes at mid to upper elevations. They often start at a point before entraining snow and fanning out as they move downhill. You can minimize the risk involved with these slides by heading for lower angled or shadier terrain and being cognizant of nearby terrain traps.

    (2/9/2022)

    Triggered rollerballs on an E-facing slope. This is a great sign that the snow surface is becoming wet and unstable. 

    Photo: Andy Harrington

Avalanche Discussion

Sunday should be the final day of the warm and sunny weather that has dominated the zone for the majority of the week. Cool east winds should ease and a good freeze is expected on Saturday night. Combined with increasing clouds on Sunday afternoon ahead of an approaching storm, the window for the surface to warm and destabilize could shrink. Temperatures should remain warm, however, so continue to watch for softening surfaces, sagging cornices, and hanging blocks of snow that could fall on you from above. Travel conditions may be difficult on slopes that have not yet softened, so be sure to bring the proper equipment needed to prevent yourself from taking a long and uncontrolled fall. If you decide to venture into larger high alpine terrain, of course, the potential for more consequential avalanches or falls goes hand in hand with your decision.

The weak snow around the Late January Crust remains in place but is quickly getting bridged as the surface crust around the zone builds with repeated freeze/thaw cycles. At this point, we expect any avalanche on this layer will need a larger trigger such as a cornice collapse. Moving forward we will continue to monitor this setup and you should use it as a baseline to dig down to. Above the interface, you will find a series of melt-freeze crusts and up to a foot of settled storm snow. This snow has not yet made a full transition to spring-like polycrystals but is considered generally strong.

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