Avalanche forecast

West Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
View on map

Avalanche danger

Fri
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
Open full map
Out of date — this forecast expired 3 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

You can trigger an avalanche in pockets of wind drifted snow on Thursday. Consider steering around wind loaded features if you notice fresh slabs forming or see signs of unstable snow such as shooting cracks.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2

    Strong, sustained east winds have been ripping across the Cascades. This wind pattern is creating variable surfaces, but also forming slabs in some funky spots, such as west aspects or even cross-loading terrain features. Thursday will bring a switch back to westerly winds, which may start blowing snow back onto more normal east facing slopes.

    So as you travel, don’t let your guard down as you switch aspects.  Keep an eye out for these shallow wind drifted slabs all over the compass. You use visual clues to help you identify slopes of concern. Look for blowing snow, textured surfaces, or fresh rounded pillows at the snow surface to help you identify where the problem exists. As always, take a step back and reduce your exposure to steep wind loaded slopes if you notice signs such as shooting cracks or hear snow that sounds hollow like a drum. 

    (3/6/2023)

    Pump the brakes and avoid steep, wind loaded terrain if you notice shooting cracks in drifted snow like this. 

    Photo: Joe Dellaporta

Avalanche Discussion

Keep an eye out for small wet loose avalanches on steep solar slopes (W-S-E) if the sun comes out. Increasing cloud cover throughout the day should help limit this problem, but worth considering if sun stays out for longer periods than forecasted. 

On Wednesday, precipitation totals were meager across the zone. The highest snow totals were found near Crystal and White Pass, which picked up an additional 3 inches. The main story has been the relentless east winds. Observers in the White Pass area found this east wind affect to be everywhere at upper elevations, but reported better ski quality once below ridgeline in more sheltered terrain. 

The most notable observation from the weekend was a large human triggered avalanche in the Tatoosh Range. The crown appears to be 1’-1.5’ deep with wide propagation. Without detailed information about the weak layer and bed surface it’s hard to discern the exact setup that produced this avalanche. It could be an isolated area where a thin layer of faceted snow survived and was buried during the latest storm. Warming conditions and low clouds may also have played some role in increasing reactivity. No other avalanches of this size and type were reported over the weekend.

Regions covered