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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 28th, 2025–Mar 29th, 2025

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

Lizard-Flathead, Flathead, Lizard.

There is uncertainty with the speed of recovery of the snowpack. Maintain conservative terrain choices while we transition to a cooler weather pattern.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Large destructive avalanches were widespread throughout the warm-up, involving persistent weak layers.

Read the Forecaster Blog for an opportunity to reflect on this week's widespread avalanche activity.

Snowpack Summary

Roughly 10 to 15 cm from convective flurries may be deposited at upper elevations. Below this, a melt-freeze crust has formed and is more supportive as you gain elevation.

The upper snowpack is a mix of refrozen and moist snow over a well-settled mid-pack.

A surface hoar or facet layer from late January is buried 100 to 180 cm deep on north and east aspects at treeline and above.

Weather Summary

Friday Night

Cloudy. Isolated flurries, 1 to 3 cm. 20 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.

Saturday

Cloudy. Isolated flurries, 1 to 2 cm. 20 to 30 southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1700 m.

Sunday

Partly cloudy. Isolated flurries, 1 cm. 5 to 10 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1700 m.

Monday

Partly cloudy. Isolated flurries, 1 to 2 cm. 10 to 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1700 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • A moist or wet snow surface, pinwheeling, and natural avalanches are all indicators of a weakening snowpack.

Problems

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.