Lizard-Flathead

Incoming warming may cause buried weak layers to become active and large avalanches to be rider-triggerable.

A few small (size 1-1.5) wind slab avalanches were triggered with explosives on Wednesday and Thursday in the south of the region. As well as one large (size 2.5) persistent slab avalanche in the Flathead south of the American border on Thursday, below treeline.

Two large, explosive-triggered avalanches (size 2 and 3) were reported on Monday in the region's south. Both avalanches occurred at treeline on southeast slopes. They failed on sugary facets down 30 to 50 cm.

15 to 30 cm of recent snowfall continues to be redistributed by southwest wind. There is a layer of sugary facets that are buried 30-50 cm deep and in some places sits on a crust from December. This layer has been reactive in snowpack tests.

The lower snowpack contains a series of crusts and faceted snow that have been unreactive so far. Expect snow depth at treeline to be 100 to 150 cm.

Friday Night

Partly cloudy with no snow, west alpine wind 30 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature -5 °C.

Saturday

Cloudy with no snow, west alpine wind 40 to 70 km/h, treeline temperature -2 °C, freezing level 1800 m.

Sunday

A mix of sun and cloud with up to 5 cm of snow or rain, west alpine wind 40 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature 3 °C, freezing level 2250 m.

Monday

Mostly clear skies with no new snow, southwest alpine wind 30 to 40 km/h, treeline temperature 6 °C, freezing level 3250 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid steep, rocky, and wind effected areas where triggering slabs is more likely.
• Make conservative terrain choices and avoid overhead hazard.