Avalanche forecast

East Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

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

A warm day will keep wet avalanche concerns and the threat of cornice failures on the menu for Thursday around the East South Mountains. Expect these wet avalanches and cornices to be bigger closer to the Cascade Crest. Let the warm-up run its course by sticking to conservative terrain where you find wet, unsupportable surfaces. 

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

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

    A warm Wednesday night and start to the day will set us up well for continued wet loose avalanche activity and cornice failures through the day Thursday.  Freezing levels will push up to 9000 ft during the overnight hours and stay elevated until precipitation begins to fall later afternoon. This will keep meltwater pumping through the snowpack and should make the recent accumulations sloppy, sticky, and easy to push under your skis or feet. While the bulk of the natural activity likely occurred on Wednesday, I suspect these wet loose could still be easy to trigger in steep enough terrain. 

    Pay attention to fresh rollerballs and your boot penetration as tell-tale signs of wet avalanches. Head for lower-angled options if you notice yourself sinking past your boot top in wet, sloppy snow that resembles oatmeal.

    The ingredients for a wet slab seem lacking, but we can’t confidently say that - especially after several days without a proper refreeze and wet, weak melt-forms lingering in the snowpack. Any wet slab would be isolated and would require some bad luck, but the dire consequences of these should help you avoid steep, open slopes that lack a supportable crust under recent accumulations. 

    (4/9/2025) Photo: Payton Schiff

    Signs of recent wet loose avalanches near Bumping Lake. 

Avalanche Discussion

We’re in a classic post spring storm shed cycle. Since April 7th, weather stations have picked up around 2-4 inches of new snow, with higher amounts reported closer to the Cascade Crest, particularly near Chinook Pass. Observers throughout the region, including an NWAC Forecaster driving around the East South (observation here), reported wet loose avalanches and warming on many aspects on Wednesday. 

With a warm Wednesday night in store, we suspect these wet snow instabilities will carry into the day Thursday. There may be less natural activity at the surface, but any triggered wet loose avalanche could gouge into old wet layers of snow producing a sizable wet avalanche. Thursday night and Friday should offer a more significant refreeze, which should start putting these wet avalanche concerns to bed. 

Wind slabs are likely quite stubborn or unreactive after Wednesday, but keep these slabs of drifted snow on your radar if you travel in high elevation, shaded terrain where dry surfaces still exist. Pay attention to surface texture, cracking or hollow-sounding pockets to help you identify where slabs lurk. 

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