Avalanche forecast

Stevens Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Wed
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

Recent snow and wind are maintaining avalanche danger.  You can trigger avalanches at middle and upper elevations where gusty winds drifted fresh slabs of snow. In wind-sheltered terrain, you may be able to trigger small loose avalanches.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Use caution on leeward slopes 35 degrees and steeper. Look for blowing snow from east winds or evidence of recent drifting. Some areas may be easy to identify with surface texture or sculpted features. If you see cracks shooting through drifted snow, stay off of steeper, consequential slopes. Cornices may be fragile from recent growth and could break under the weight of a person.

    A period of strong east winds transported snow on Monday morning before shifting direction and tapering off. On Tuesday, we could see enough wind, again out of the east, for light drifting of shallow slabs on the highest slopes and the most wind-exposed locations. East winds often favor specific features, such as Tye Peak, Lichtenberg Mountain, and the Moonlight area, where the wind gets channeled and accelerated near the Highway 2 corridor and adjacent east-west running drainages. 

  • Loose Dry

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

    Recent snow has added up and may sluff easily on steep slopes. Loose avalanches could be split into two types on Tuesday- those that involve cold snow on steep shaded slopes, and those that involve snow that warms up on slopes that get direct sunshine. In either case, the advice is similar. Stay alert to changing conditions and slopes over 35 degrees where the snow slides easily. Use small test slopes to check how the snow is behaving. Use extra caution near slopes with terrain traps like trees, gullies, or rocks.  In these locations, small slides could still result in injury or worse.

    If clouds break, the surface of east-south-west aspects could quickly become warm and weak. Even 30 minutes of partial clearing could be enough to trigger natural loose avalanches. If you see clearing skies and warming of the surface snow, consider moving to more shaded aspects or slopes less than 35 degrees. Dry loose avalanches in storm snow have been common on a variety of aspects over the past couple of days. There's potential for these conditions to continue on Tuesday, especially if new snow totals exceed 6". There's uncertainty about how much snow will accumulate.

    (4/10/2022)

    A small loose avalanche started near a tree on the southwest aspect of Lichtenberg Mountain on April 10.

    Photo: Matt Primomo

Avalanche Discussion

Another 6" of snow accumulated in the early morning hours on Monday. You can find close to 2 feet of recent snow over the most recent crust, buried on April 8th.  Recent snow amounts will vary as you move east and west of the Cascade crest as well as higher in the mountains. On Monday, avalanche professionals triggered small avalanches in the recent snow where the wind drifted slabs (size D1-1.5 wind slab avalanches in the Old Faithful highway path) and in wind-sheltered terrain (size D1 loose dry avalanches at Stevens Pass Resort). On Sunday, observers reported small loose avalanches, especially on sun-exposed slopes, when the sun made brief appearances. One larger slab avalanche was reported on a steep rock slab on a southeast aspect around 5,100ft on Lichtenberg Mtn. If you're in the mountains, submit an observation and let us know what you see.

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