Avalanche bulletin issued for Olympics, Cascades, Mt. Hood

The Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC) put out a special bulletin Friday, warning of avalanche danger in the Olympics, Cascades, and Oregon’s Mt. Hood.

Check the status of each Washington mountain pass here

The bulletin categorized the danger of an avalanche in the aforementioned areas as “considerable,” citing a significant amount of new snow. That new snow became a problem when it poorly bonded to older, weaker snow on the ground.

As for the level of danger it poses, NWAC warns that it could be considerable.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty as to the extent of this problem, but avalanches that are triggered on that layer will be deep, they’ll be destructive, and they’ll be life threatening,” Simon Trautman, interim Director of Forecasting Field Operations for NWAC, told KIRO Radio.

In terms of the scope of the issue, Trautman cautioned that “all mountainous locations that received more than about two feet of new snow should be considered suspect.”

With that in mind, those looking to hit the slopes this weekend should be especially careful.

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“The really tricky thing going into the weekend is that in the last four days we’ve seen two fairly major avalanche cycles,” said Trautman. “Any slope that’s fun to ski can potentially avalanche if the conditions are right, and all you need for an avalanche is a slab of thick snow on top of a little bit of weaker snow.”

He went on to note that those avalanche cycles “have been more prominent in areas with more snow like Mt. Baker and the east side of Washington Pass.”

The avalanche bulletin will be in effect through 6 p.m. Sunday. For more information, you can check out NWAC’s website, and Avalanche.org.

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