Avalanche forecast

East Slopes North

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Wed
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 8 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

The mellow weather with cold temperatures has helped reduce avalanche hazard. Watch out for snow shedding off cliffs and rocks warming in the sun, especially if snow surfaces are becoming moist. If you see warming surfaces or rollarballs, avoid lingering beneath steep rocky areas still holding snow. 

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

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

    You can trigger loose avalanches on very steep slopes, or they can release naturally from snow shedding off trees or rocks. You'll likely find this problem on south aspects warming up in the sunshine. If the cold air pool erodes faster than forecast on the east slopes, wet loose avalanches will be more widespread. Avalanches may also run as dry loose slides rather than wet loose if the weather is cold, but sunny. Use key observations, such as natural loose avalanches, pinwheels, rocks shedding snow, or moist surface snow. When or if you start to see these signs, move to lower angle terrain and avoid lingering beneath steep, rocky terrain. 

    Some southern aspects already have a surface crust that must break down before we observe any wet avalanche activity. Cloudy skies with cold east-flow will likely prevent these crusts from softening, and most avalanches will be small and isolated. With the complex freezing levels, you should expect more widespread wet avalanche activity in areas further west in the zone and at higher elevations. 

    (12/27/2025)

    Wet loose avalanches often initiate from steep rocks, like in this example from earlier this week. 

    Photo: Adam Butterfield

Avalanche Discussion

It's a bit of a rinse-and-repeat weather day for Tuesday. Eastern valleys will stay cold, with milder temperatures at upper elevations. High clouds will likely shield the surface from the brunt of solar radiation, making wet avalanches less likely than on Monday. The WA Pass weather station at 6900' did bump up to 31°F on Monday, while the lower station (5400') stayed in the mid-20's°F. This temperature inversion suggests that the warm air is trying to move farther east, but the cold air is sufficiently entrenched to hold it back. 

It has been a few days since any reports of natural or triggered storm or wind slabs. But there may be some isolated, very steep, alpine terrain features where you could get caught offguard by a wind slab. So careful consideration is warranted before entering a slope with terrain traps that may increase the consequences of a small avalanche. We have limited information, so travel with extra safety margins, make frequent observations, and ease into new terrain slowly to account for the uncertainty. 

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