That was a big one. Photo: Northwest Avalanche Center
Most avalanches don’t last more than a matter of seconds, but it’s not at all unheard of for large slides to step into the “minutes” range when they’re large enough and cover enough terrain. One recent avalanche in the Pacific Northwest went well beyond any of those, however. It was big enough that the U.S. Geological Survey recorded 15 minutes of seismic activity.
Photos posted by the Northwest Avalanche Center showed the aftermath of the massive avalanche on March 22, 2026, several days after it had occurred (March 14). One image from the center’s Joe Dellaporta shows a wall of snow at least twice the size of a grown man. According to the NWAC, more than 11 inches of precipitation had stacked up on top of a crust that had been buried for almost a week. The end of that very storm cycle brought warmer temps, and therefore rain instead of snow falling on top of it all.
“One of these avalanches that released on March 14th ran for a total of 15 minutes according to seismic data. This widely propagating slab broke at roughly 9,800 feet on the Wy’East Face and gouged its way through Clark Canyon before stopping at 5300 ft,” the Northwest Avalanche Center wrote. “While this was one of the bigger occurrences during this stormy period in mid March, there were numerous other very large avalanches that were also reported around the canyons and the north side of Hood.”
That’s a full 4,500 feet in elevation covered by one massive avalanche. As you’d guess, avalanche risks were high around the time of this particular event. Just two days before the March 14 avalanche, the center had issued warnings for anybody venturing into the backcountry. Warnings were issued in the “considerable” danger category for elevations from 3,500 feet to 5,500 feet. Risk had increased to Level 4 or “high” for elevations from 5,500 feet to 8,500 feet.
