Avalanche forecast

Snoqualmie Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
No rating
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Highlights

A major atmospheric river is set to wash away most of what's left of our early-season snowpack. Expect wet avalanches to occur at upper elevations where the snow is deeper and colder. It won't be an enjoyable weather day in the mountains, but if you head to the hills, realize that it will be dangerous anywhere you encounter continuous snow.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Very Likely
    Size
    1–2

    It's going to rain all the way to the top of the peaks on Monday, meaning wet avalanches will follow anywhere snow coverage is sufficient. With such a meager early-season snowpack and multiple days of generally warm and wet temps already under our belts, the question becomes - where is there enough snow? 

    The answer is higher up in the hills, above roughly 5000 feet. At these elevations, information is extremely limited, but there may be enough snow that wet slides could grow large and dangerous. There may even be several rounds of avalanches as the rain continues, starting with wet loose slides, potentially followed by deeper and larger glide-style avalanches. 

    Although there's a lot of uncertainty about exactly where or how big these slides will be, we feel fairly confident they will happen. Your risk management is relatively simple. Since it's going to rain essentially to the top of our forecast zone, it's likely a good day to stay out of the snowy mountains.

    (12/6/2025)

    Soaking rains should result in natural wet avalanches wherever there is sufficient snow coverage.

    [6600ft, E, WL-N-D1-R1]

    Photo: Dallas Glass

Avalanche Discussion

Well, what can you say about the weather? It's definitely going to rain on our parade. Freezing levels are expected to rise above the highest peaks in the Snoqualmie Pass zone, and there is no shortage of water. In fact, if you add up all the water we've received since this storm period began on Thursday (roughly 5 inches and counting), we'll likely more than double that by Tuesday morning. 

The snowpack around the Pass is already struggling. There isn't enough snow down low for us to issue a hazard rating. As you ascend in elevation, it's more winterlike, but the snowpack is not particularly deep - a couple of feet at most. Make no mistake: if this storm were occurring mid-winter or we had a cold, layered snowpack on the ground, we'd be forecasting High avalanche danger and issuing avalanche warnings. It's that big and dangerous a storm. The mindset behind the considerable rating is that the potential for widespread D2 natural avalanches is lower because we don't have much existing snow to work with. Just in case we're wrong, you probably want to stay out of snowy areas of the mountains on Monday. It won't be very pleasant out anyway, so it shouldn't be too hard to convince yourself to save that PTO for snowier days ahead. 

With the warm start to the 25-26 winter season, we have less snowpack information than usual to start daily forecast operations. For zones and elevation bands with less snow than needed for avalanche hazard, we will issue a forecast with No Rating. Anticipated avalanche and weather conditions will still be updated daily. NWAC will issue an avalanche danger rating for a zone when enough snow to produce avalanches has accumulated at middle and upper elevations.

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