Avalanche forecast

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

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

Conditions are generally safe, but consider wet avalanche problems at lower and mid elevations. Look for melting surface crusts and deep, punchy snow as a sign to move away from steep slopes during the daytime. Late in the day and in alpine areas near the crest, an incoming storm should begin to create small wind slabs.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

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

    With a weak overnight freeze and strong late March sun shining through the clouds, small wet loose avalanches could become something to watch for on Thursday. First thing in the morning, check to see how well snow surfaces have frozen. If theres no surface crust, or you sink up to your knee easily in wet snow, than you might be able to trigger wet loose avalanches on steep slopes. Look for rollerballs, tree bombs, and feel for heavy wet snow as indicators that you can trigger slides. Cornices, water ice, glide avalanches, and other chunks of snow could continue to shed from ridges and rocky areas as they have been reported the past handful of days.

    Just because the danger is low doesn't mean you couldn't get hit by a falling hazard or wet loose slide in large, complex terrain.

    (3/21/2023)

    Debris from a substantial WL avalanche.

    Photo: Matt Primomo

Avalanche Discussion

Thursday looks like a somewhat typical pre-frontal day, with increasing cloud cover, filtered sunshine at times, cooler temperatures and increasing winds. Areas near the crest stand to pick more new snow during the day than further east, though heavier accumulations should hold off until the evening. Over the past handful of days, observers have reported numerous wet loose avalanches, and some isolated glide cracks. Some slides were large, so expect to find debris in many areas from this recent warming trend.

Most slopes besides NE-NW at mid and upper elevations hold a crust from the sun and warm temperatures. On the shaded northerlies you can still find nice soft, powder snow. An observer on Wenatchee Mountain on Tuesday found somewhat reactive snow in these areas. You'll find intermittent sun crusts and a pair of rain crusts from Valentine's Day 3-5ft deep in the snowpack This crust extends up to just below 7000ft with some weaker snow beneath it, and observations indicate wide variability in the structure and depth of this layer throughout the zone. Theres another crust which dates back to Martin Luther King Jr Day (Feb 12) down 4-6ft and extends to higher elevations. Very large avalanches that occurred on the 10th on Cannon Mountain, Rock Mountain, and North Chiwakum may have run on one of these crusts. For now, we don't expect to see more activity on these layers but theres a chance they could wake back up this spring with sustained warm temperatures or heavy rain/snow. 

Regions covered