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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 9th, 2025–Mar 10th, 2025

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

Regions

Lizard-Flathead, Flathead, Lizard.

New snow arrives with moderate wind, take care when transitioning into wind affected terrain.

Surface slab avalanches may step down to deeper instabilities in the snowpack.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Recent explosive avalanche control and natural cornice fall has produced numerous slab avalanches up to size 2 in north through east facing alpine terrain.

Looking forward: Avalanches on buried weak layers may be difficult to trigger, but if one is triggered, it is likely to be large and destructive.

Snowpack Summary

New snow falls on a variety of surfaces.

Below 1900 m and on solar aspects, a surface crust overlays up to 25 cm of snow that sits on a widespread melt-freeze crust.

Above this and on north aspects, the new snow falls on wind redistributed snow from predominantly southwest wind.

A weak layer of preserved surface hoar or facets from late January is buried 80 to 130 cm. This weak layer remains a concern where there is no thick, supportive crust under the recent snow.

The lower snowpack is generally well-settled and strong.

Weather Summary

Sunday Night

Mainly cloudy, with up to 20 cm of snow. 30 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around 0 °C.

Monday

Mainly cloudy, with possible flurries. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around 0 °C.

Tuesday

Mainly cloudy, with up to 5 cm of snow. 15 to 25 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around 0 °C.

Wednesday

Mainly cloudy, with up to 5 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +1 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be aware of the potential for large avalanches due to buried weak layers.
  • Be alert to conditions that change with elevation, aspect, and exposure to wind.
  • Be aware of the potential for loose avalanches in steep terrain where snow hasn't formed a slab.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

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.