Avalanche forecast

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sun
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

For most areas and most of the day Low danger can be found, along with slick or crusty surface conditions and challenging travel. An approaching winter storm will bring strong to extreme ridgeline winds, and accumulating snowfall by the very end of the day. Expect quickly increasing danger Saturday night, especially for upper elevations near the Cascade Crest. 

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1

    High mountains near the far western edge of the zone have picked up a few inches of snow over the past few days. Winds are expected to be very strong and increase during the day. This, combined with snowfall that may start to accumulate by afternoon may create touchy windslab danger in alpine terrain. New snow may not bond well with old, hard and sometimes slick surfaces. This is most likely to occur at higher elevations near the crest on Saturday. 

    Watch out for blowing snow and accumulating snow. Exit steep, upper elevation slopes by the time these stormy conditions materialize in your chosen venue for the day. Expect increasing avalanche danger by the time the sun goes down.

    Example snow plumes off a ridgeline.

    Photo: Drew Lovell

Avalanche Discussion

Expect a transitional day on Saturday... back to winter. Most of the day will bring increasingly strong westerly winds at ridgetops, with snowfall starting sometime mid-day to afternoon depending on location. Shortly after dark on Saturday, avalanche danger will begin to increase in earnest as snowfall rates and winds increase. Needless to say, it won't be the most pleasant afternoon for a summit bid. Make sure you build in enough time to safely exit the mountains, as Saturday night would be a rough one to get caught out in the high country. 

For most areas, challenging travel conditions on icy surfaces will be the main hazard. Observers have reported glazed over wind board, and bulletproof surfaces on high, north facing terrain. Slide for life conditions may be encountered in these places, so sharp tools like crampons and an ice axe may be necessary for travel in some areas. Corn snow has been found on sunny slopes by mid-day, making south-facing slopes the favored places to travel in the zone recently, on skis at least. With these conditions, snowmobiles may overheat easily, and skis may break through crusts unexpectedly.

In some locations near the crest, weak faceted snow may exist above or beneath crusts from late January/early February. Forecaster Irene Henninger found this weak structure near Holden about 5cm below the surface. Additional snow on top of this crust-facet combination, or very slick crusts may create a persistent slab problem moving forward. Dig down, or document these layers while they're near the surface if you travel on shaded upper elevation terrain. Let us know what you find, so we can better track changing conditions with this approaching storm.

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