Bulletin d’avalanche

Snoqualmie Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
Voir sur la carte

Danger d’avalanche

Fri
Alpin
2 · Modéré
Limite forestière
2 · Modéré
Sous la limite
2 · Modéré
Open full map
Périmé — ce bulletin a expiré 2 years ago. Vous consultez des conditions passées, pas le bulletin en cours.

Points saillants

Another warm and sunny day will keep the chance for wet avalanche on your mind. Sure it’s cold and cloudy at the trailhead but it's a different world higher up the hillside. Pick routes that limit any time you spend under steep rocky slopes.

Problèmes avalancheux

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Possible
    Taille
    1–2

    Warm sunny weather could result in two different versions of the same problem. The more dangerous flavor is blobs of snow shedding from rocky faces or steep roadcuts. These natural avalanches could be big enough to hurt you on their own or could trigger additional slides entraining snow on the slopes below.

    This issue is all about managing your overhead hazard. Pay attention to what’s above you. Rocky slopes could warm much faster than where you’re standing. Don’t linger underneath steep sunny terrain especially if you see snow starting to shed from rocks or trees. 

    The other wet loose concern is much more predict. As the crust breaks down, you may push small wet loose slides in very steep terrain. These shouldn’t be very large, but don’t let one carry you over a cliff or into a creek.

    (1/7/2025)

    Steep rocky faces like this could continue to shed snow on Thursday if they get warmed in the sun.  

    Photo: Dallas Glass

Avalanche Discussion

Clear skies Wednesday night should allow the surface crust to reform at all elevations. This will all but eliminate the avalanche danger to start the day. The crust will need to break down before any real hazard materializes. Remember, this may happen faster where rocks help the snowpack warm quickly in the sunshine. So far we haven’t found the upper elevation extent of this crust. It might just reach the tops of the highest peaks in the zone. 

Strong temperature inversions, low clouds, and valley fog will make it chilly near and east of the Pass. This should maintain the surface crust and generally safe avalanche conditions at lower elevations. If you’re west of the Pass, more sunshine and warmer temperatures could result in some wet loose issues, but there’s not a whole lot of snow at lower elevations in the western reaches of the zone. Even though it’s chilly down low, it should be much nicer just above the inversion layer. 

Travel conditions are a bear! Besides the breakable crust, rock-solid tree bombs, icy slopes, frozen piles of avalanche debris, downed limbs, and open creeks all make simply traveling much more dangerous. 

On Wednesday avalanche professionals reported that the surface softened on steep sunny slopes and snow shed from trees. As of writing, we haven’t heard of any new avalanches. However, additional reports of this past cycle continue to roll in. This time glide avalanches from Rock Face and Rockdale (lower elevations), as well as debris pile near Mt Catherine, all add to the long list of large avalanches that crescendoed this past Sunday (Jan 5).

Régions couvertes