Winter snow, summer warmth mean avalanche threat

Wintertime snowfall and summertime temperatures create a potentially deadly danger in the mountains this weekend, according to weather forecasters and northwest avalanche experts.

Heavy snow, as much as two feet, fell in the central Cascades early this week. In the last few days, we’ve seen a progressive warm up.

“Now, as we head toward the weekend, we’re going to be raising those freezing levels up to summertime levels, that’s going to warm up that snow and make it unstable, increasing the avalanche danger,” said Rich Marriott in the KING 5 Weather Center.

Forecaster Dennis D’Amico said the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center has issued an avalanche warning for the Cascades and Olympics.

“Some of these avalanches might start kind of small but they gain momentum and snow as they go further down and are quite heavy and they can cause injury, or worse,” he said.

Historically, this is a prime time for avalanche accidents.

“Frequently this time of the year when people travel in the mountains, they forget about the fact, when the skies are blue, that we still have a risk of avalanches up there as the snowpack is still deep and still fairly wintry, right now,” said Marriott.

Morning is the safest time to hike or snowshoe, since cold temperatures overnight tend to stabilize the snowpack.

“So you can still travel safely in the mountains but you really have to be aware that conditions are going to change from the morning until the afternoon,” warned D’Amico.

A man remains missing from an avalanche in April that killed another showshoer in his party near Snoqualmie Pass and the King County Sheriff said it could be too dangerous to send a rescue party if another avalanche strikes this weekend.

“If there’s some good news it’s that some of the snow will release naturally heading into the weekend.” But D’Amico said the avalanche risk is still great. “You still have to think about it when you step outside your car door,” he cautioned.

The Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center has stopped issuing daily, detailed avalanche forecasts for the season, instead issuing a general warning this week.