Northwest Mountains

A dry weather trend and mild-weather continue to decrease the threat of human-triggering a slab avalanche. The greatest avalanche concern remains on wind-loaded terrain at above treeline elevations. If you plan to travel in these locations, careful evaluation of the snow and terrain is recommended. Otherwise don't forget the sunscreen while you are out enjoying the early season conditions. 

In the Northwest Mountains, heightened avalanche conditions still exist for above treeline elevations. This is primarily for the high terrain along the spine of the Ruby Range where the most snow accumulated during the last storm on Tuesday/Wednesday. We've only observed a few natural avalanches that ran at the end of this storm, Example 1. Now a few days out from that storm, the avalanche conditions are again feeling quiet. Given that these slabs formed over persistent weak layers, we are still cautioning backcountry travelers to make careful evaluations about the snow and their terrain choices. Your eyes will be the best tool for identifying wind-loaded terrain. From there you may observe whether or not there is a slab sitting over weaker facets or faceted crusts. If you decide to travel in that terrain, consider the consequences of a triggered avalanche. Would that avalanche pile deeply into a gully, or push you into exposed rocks? How can you manage the terrain to reduce those consequences?  In the Southeast Mountains, there are few places to find enough of a snowpack to create an avalanche concern. These isolated locations would also be above treeline wind-loaded terrain. This portion of our forecast area received less snow during the last storm, and in the big picture, this area has seen little change from the generally safe avalanche conditions over the last couple of weeks of fairly dry weather.