Avalanche forecast

West Slopes North

Northwest Avalanche Center
View on map

Avalanche danger

Wed
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
Open full map
Out of date — this forecast expired last year. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Avalanche danger is generally low, but if you find yourself in extreme terrain at upper elevations, you might be able to trigger a small pocket of wind-drifted snow. Use caution around terrain traps, because even if a slide is small, you wouldn't want to get carried off a cliff, through rocks or trees, or buried in a gully.  

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1

    Avalanche activity will probably be limited to small drifts from Monday night and Tuesday's snow. New snow amounts might only be a couple of inches. There's a small chance you could trigger an avalanche deeper, as far as last week's rain layer and subsequent crust, which could be a foot or more beneath the surface, although that appears to be unlikely. 

    Extreme terrain or high-consequence features below you are where you probably don't want to get caught in an avalanche, even if it's small. If there's more snow or wind than forecasted, avalanche danger could be higher. 

    Example photo: Soft, shallow wind slabs that have little consequence if you trigger one are what you would be most likely to find on Tuesday. 

    Photo: Robert Hahn

Avalanche Discussion

If the sun pops out, or at lower elevations where we've got a mix of snow and rain, rollerballs or small wet loose avalanches could result. Wind transport in the previous few days probably built slabs somewhere, but no new wind slabs that react to a human trigger have been found recently. Backcountry travelers were out all over the zone during the relatively nice period of weather on Sunday (Coleman Deming, Ruby Mtn, Cascade Pass, Baker backcountry). 

Several inches of rain fell in last week's atmospheric river, resulting in a large avalanche cycle. Check out the media gallery for photos of some of the carnage. The biggest concern with this recent period of warm weather and rain is that we haven't gotten much of a freeze since then. Temperatures are finally a little cooler, but the old snow surface is now insulated by a few inches of snow and it's just not very frozen.

It's not completely out of the question that a glide or cornice-triggered avalanche could still occur, or just an expanse of snow perched on steep rocks could unexpectedly come tumbling down. If you're traveling beneath any of these features, do so hastily, as this is a low likelihood yet high consequence scenario. 

Submit an observation to the website or the Avy App to help NWAC Forecasters reduce uncertainty. It can be short, simple, and even anonymous. 

Regions covered