Lawinenlagebericht

East Cabinet Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Tue
Hochgebirge
4 · Gross
Waldgrenze
4 · Gross
Unterhalb
3 · Erheblich
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist last year abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

Heavy snowfall formed dangerous slabs of snow three to four feet deep. Now, a steep warmup overnight turned the snowfall into rain and the copious amounts of rain that saturated the snowpack is adding significant water weight to an already complex snowpack with numerous weak snow interfaces. With more rain expected today, avoidance remains the best tool in the bag. Expect to see natural avalanche activity on steeper slopes and they have potential to be large to very large, and travel long distances. Avoid all avalanche terrain today.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Storm Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Very Likely
    Größe
    2–3

    The official seasonal transition to spring arrived on March 20, and the mountains just received three to four feet of snow since. This amounts to a broad brush 4 to 6 inches of SWE in the past four days. This substantial new snow volume and water weight has built dense, cohesive slabs across all aspects and elevations. These slabs now sit atop more storm layers that formed between March 12 to 18. 

    The most recent load is placing significant stress on a variety of interfaces (hardness changes, subtle grain type differences, and crust) in the upper snowpack, with stability teetering near the edge. Steady elevated wind speeds have also been effective at drifting the denser snowfall into deeper drifts or slabs below leeward-facing ridges and gullies.

    (3/16/2025)

    Looking across the right flank of a skier triggered slide on an east-facing slope around 6400 feet. The slide broke over 300 feet wide and around 2 feet deep, and likely failed at either a recent storm interface or in softer snow above a sun crust. Blue Mountain, Selkirk Mountains. March 16, 2025.

    Photo: Chris Bilbrey

  • Loose Wet

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Likely
    Größe
    1–2

    Warm air overtook the region Sunday night and this is quickly driving the rain line toward 7,000 feet. Heavy snow flipped to heavy rain around 8 pm Sunday night, and many areas received 1 to 3 inches of liquid precipitation - with potentially higher amounts near Bear Mountain in the West Cabinet Mountains. As steady rain continues and saturates deeper into the drier snowpack it will help individual snow bonds lose cohesion and start producing Loose Wet avalanches, or fail as a more dangerous Wet Slab avalanche. Wet snow hazards will grow in size, distribution, and migrate up in elevation as the warming period continues.

    The farther down slopes these wet loose slides travel, the more likely they are to entrain additional snow volume and make a larger, more dangerous pile at the bottom. If you observe natural rollerballs, the snow glops to your boards, or you post-hole past your shins into wet, rotten snow, it’s time to call it a day.

    (3/12/2025) Photo: Izzy Davis

Avalanche Discussion

While conditions in towns and valleys may seem unchanged, the mountains have undergone a dramatic transformation this week. A series of significant weather systems have reshaped the snowpack landscape. Above 4,000 feet, multiple feet of snow have accumulated over the last 10 days, accompanied by strong southwest winds that have built large cornices and extensive slabs. To add to the instability, a sharp temperature rise Sunday night turned snow into rain, saturating the snowpack and adding significant water weight to an already stressed structure. With rain expected to continue, avalanche conditions will likely remain elevated and hazardous for at least the next few days.

Today’s recommendation is fairly straightforward - the snowpack needs time to adjust to the springtime weather chaos. Don’t get lulled into a false sense of security if the obvious signs of unstable snow like cracking or collapsing are missing. Today is a great day to go bowling or work on a house project.

We are not dealing with avalanche problems that are hard to see or predict like deeply buried or lingering stubborn persistent weak layers. Instead, we have a clear hazard - large volumes of new snow sitting above diverse flavors of interfaces, not one in particular more glaring than any other. This makes paying attention to nature's clues extremely important and not allowing yourself or your group to venture near steeper terrain or below steeper hazards with no exit plan. Play a safe and conservative game in the mountains, and when stability is the question…terrain is always the number one answer.

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