Avalanche forecast

East Cabinet Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

Friday night rolled in with fresh snow and winds from the southwest. Fresh slabs are likely to be triggered in steep terrain on north and east facing aspects near ridgeline today. Weak snow above the Lucky Friday Crust is also showing more potential to fail in stability tests. You can avoid getting into trouble today by choosing terrain angles less than 35 degrees and seek out slopes that have enough timber to be sheltered from the winds.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Friday night ushered in more snow and southwesterly winds, this will create pockets of fresh and cohesive slabs below ridgelines and chutes today. The size and reactivity of these slabs will make them more hazardous at elevations above treeline.

    On Thursday we observed wind slabs both new and old that varied in potential to be triggered, these older slabs were widespread, but unlikely to be triggered today. Open terrain that faces westerly is more scoured and is the only place we didn't find wind slab development. The East Cabinets have more potential to harbor reactive wind slabs as they recieved slightly more snow from the last storm and the bigger terrain has amplified the effects of the wind compared to the West Cabinets and Purcells.  

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2–3

    Four day's of very cold temperatures have increased the growth of weak, sugary snow crystals around the "Lucky Friday Crust" buried 1 to 2 feet below the snowpack surface. Thursday we found this layer to be failing and propagating in stability tests and was proving to be more of a concern compared to observations taken on Monday.  This weak layer has the highest sensitivity in colder north facing terrain. Persistent weak layers are unpredictable by nature and this one has enough volume to be destructive if triggered. Keeping the slope angles low or travelling on ridgelines where the snowpack is scoured are the best ways to avoid triggering a slide on this weak layer right now. 

Avalanche Discussion

Well, I am riding the struggle bus this morning. Snotel sites appear to be down as I make my best effort to quantify snowfall totals across the area by looking at ski area reports and webcams. The dreaded 404 error every time! Not ideal. But, I can tell you it did snow last night and the winds blew steadily out of the southwest with gust's close to 30 mph throughout the night. Kind of a no-brainer when it comes to the likelihood of wind slab development at upper elevations. Size and thickness of windslabs is hard to predict right now, but you can expect slabs to be touchy in steep terrain today below ridgelines and loaded chutes. It was pretty warm in the mountains yesterday and the rain/snowline is hovering around 3,000'. The new snow should settle and bond fairly quick in most areas with mild temperatures present over the next few days. These mild temperatures should also help trend our persistent weak layer towards gaining strength in the coming week. We did observe small surface hoar growing on the snowpack this week as well in the West Cabinets. With warm temperatures and wind present the last two days, it is very difficult to say if and where it may be buried right now. I suspect lightly timbered slopes on northerly aspects may be harboring some buried surface hoar under this latest round of storm snow.

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