Avalanche forecast

Silver Valley & Bitterroot Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 7 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Recent snowfall has built fresh slabs of snow on top of wet, cohesionless snow at middle elevations and weak, faceted snow at upper elevations. Steady winds along ridgelines will fuel deeper drifting on northerly and easterly-facing slopes, and where avalanches could break deeper and wider than you expect. Heed early warning signs of unstable snow like surface cracking or audible collapses, and stick to sheltered, lower-angled slopes to help reduce your avalanche risk.

Avalanche problems

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2

    In the past 48 hours, favored portions of the Silver Valley and Bitterroot Mountains received 4 to 6 inches of dense heavy snowfall above about 5700 feet. Another 3 to 5 inches of snow are expected to fall today with significantly lower freezing levels near 3000 feet. All of the storm snow has been falling on a variety of old surfaces, creating somewhat complex conditions.Generally, at lower elevations the recent snow is moist and has been falling on saturated old surfaces or grainy, textured crust. This has resulted in favorable bonding conditions and few concerns. However, as you climb to higher elevations you might find that the new snow is drier and has fallen onto either a firm smooth crust or faceted snow with more shallowly buried weak layers. These are the places where we expect the new snow to need more time to find equilibrium and a good bond. Pay attention to how much snow is stacking up as you climb to higher elevations, and steer toward lower angle terrain if you encounter signs of instability like collapsing or cracking around your skis and machine.

    In the previous 24 hours, we measured 6" of new snow at 6400'. This was enough added weight to tip the buried weak layers over the edge and propagate across a large column on a northeast aspect with 11 taps in two different tests. 

    February 8, 2026.

    Photo: Izzy Davis

Avalanche Discussion

Steady to light mountain snowfall within the last 48 hours has been a welcome change, as many snow surfaces were in desperate need of a refresh in terms of the riding quality. The unfortunate news is that we continue to be burdened by buried weak layers below, making the prospect of recreating on steeper slopes a worrisome endeavor. The trouble with our current pattern is that since the weak layers were initially buried on January 28th, we have generally received light and steady incremental loads. This has helped preserve the weak layers,  all while allowing the slabs to thicken, steadily increasing the potential size and consequence of avalanches with each passing storm.When faced with remarkably widespread or fragile weak layers, of which ours can be characterized as both right now, avalanche professionals hope for a “crush or flush” scenario to unfold. Meaning a substantial storm moves through to cause rapid settlement and deeply buries the weak layer. This type of storm can also test the weak layer resulting in a widespread “flush” in the form of a natural avalanche cycle. When this happens, it can effectively help to give us a clean slate in some or many avalanche start zones. I hate to say it, but we’ve essentially had the opposite scenario unfold lately. Recent storms have been even-keeled with gradual and modest snowfall accumulations, and we have observed very few natural avalanches releasing on the January 28th weak layers.

So here we are, in the middle of February with a fairly text book, tell-tale “spicy moderate” forecast for you. With each passing day, our field teams continue to easily find buried surface hoar one to two feet below the surface, and that weak layer continues to produce worrisome, propagating results in our snowpack tests. Feedback at the surface has been in short supply, so the best tool for investigating the problem right now is digging down. If you find the Jan 28 weak layer on the slopes where you are recreating, and you find that the overlying slab is one foot or greater, you have found a place that steep slopes could produce large dangerous avalanches. You can reduce your risk, by choosing lower angled terrain. We might be dealing with this problem for weeks to come, so now is a perfect time to develop your strategies for navigating it.

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