East Cabinet Mountains

Heavy snowfall turning to heavy rain across most of our forecast terrain today means that newly formed storm slabs and wind slabs will become wet slabs. These quickly changing conditions mean that our snowpack is rapidly becoming unstable. Human triggered avalanches will become very likely while natural avalanches become likely. Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended. Avoid steep slopes and run outs below avalanche terrain that may be threatened by natural avalanches.

Wet slab avalanches, both natural and human triggered, are notoriously difficult to forecast and we always have a high degree of uncertainty about when and if wet slab avalanches will occur. Water percolating through the snowpack tends to deteriorate weak layers. The timing of and degree to which this weakening occurs is tricky to pin down, but we know that both newly formed and older slabs could fail during this rain event, producing large or very large avalanches. This somewhat low probability but very high consequence situation, coupled with soggy conditions, should motivate you to avoid avalanche terrain and runout zones until a refreeze occurs. Our storm slabs alone present a high probability and high consequence avalanche problem until they become wet slabs. Essentially every avalanche red flag is waving today. Plan your day accordingly and choose low angle and low consequence terrain if you venture into our mountains.