Avalanche forecast

West Slopes North

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

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

Very light, dry snow and unusual wind blowing in different patterns from what we normally see will redistribute into reactive deposits that are likely to fail with a human trigger. Avalanche size and sensitivity will grow as you make your way up towards the alpine. Search for actively blowing snow, identify thicker, heavier deposits that have either textured or smooth, fat surfaces, and red flags like long, shooting cracks and whumphing as indicators to avoid steep slopes. 

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    We don't have a typical PNW snowpack right now, so don't treat this like your normal day out. It may not have snowed for a few days, but we've had rather cold temperatures atypical of this area that have resulted in very low density snow which will easily redistribute with wind. Unsual loading with easterly winds will develop wind slabs in places you might not normally find wind slabs.

    A guide chose not to enter complex upper-elevation terrain on Friday because there was more wind redistributing snow than the forecast called for. They reported seeing small human-triggered wind slabs on the Arm in the Baker backcountry, and as the day progressed, wind slabs grew and became stiffer. 

    Your best indicators will be to look for actively blowing snow and watch where it's landing. Search for rippled or textured surfaces, or large, thick, smooth "pillows" to identify wind-affected snow. A scoured area and location with a thick drift may only be a few feet apart from each other. Search for other red flags like recent avalanches, long, shooting cracks and whumphs. Steer around large, steep slopes where you find any of these characteristics.

    Take a moment to evaluate your strategy if you're in a steep area with a bad runout like cliffs, trees, rocks, or a gully below you. Getting caught in a slide and ending up encountering a terrain trap, even if the slide is small, usually doesn't have good outcomes. 

    (2/19/2026)

    Long shooting cracks on an obvious wind feature. This was small and supported, so there wasn't an avalanche- even though a crown, flanks, and stauchwall were visible. This was an obvious clue that larger, unsupported slopes would probably result in an avalanche. Cascade Pass. 

    Photo: Irene Henninger

Avalanche Discussion

Conditions may not be as reactive as we expect in some areas, but use this as a starting point to evaluate, and when in doubt, stick to gentler terrain. On Thursday in the Baker backcountry, there were many reports of loose dry avalanches running naturally on steep slopes. Loose activity backed off on Friday, but could still knock you off in sheltered steep areas on Saturday. Meanwhile, I was at Cascade Pass on Thursday, and wind redistributed the snow into small, reactive wind slabs, and we were able to easily trigger small avalanches. 

There were reports of widespread surface hoar coating snow surfaces in the Baker backcountry on Friday. We hope wind will destroy this layer before it gets buried- but there's a chance you might find pockets with more reactive slabs than you expect. There are additional weak layers found near crusts from earlier in the month; however, we haven't seen continued activity on these layers. 

Observers in the Baker backcountry are reporting a little under a foot of low density snow at the surface. There are recent observations showing patches of faceted snow and surface hoar at multiple interfaces from the last few weeks. Our current light-density snow also facets more easily than the region’s usual dense snow, and cold temperatures are slowing strengthening. We still don’t have the deeply developed weak layers seen elsewhere in the Cascades, but there’s enough fragile snow in place that when we get another substantial load on top, conditions may be more active than usual. 

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