Avalanche forecast

Silver Valley & Bitterroot Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Thu
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 6 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

The allure of a beautiful sunny day might make steep slopes with fresh snowfall look tempting, but you can still trigger a large avalanche in many places. Selecting slopes with a hard supportable crust beneath the recent snowfall will reduce your chances of triggering an avalanche on buried weak layers 1 to 2 feet below the surface. Choose lower-angled terrain if you are seeking softer conditions on more shaded aspects, or if you are in doubt about the snow structure beneath you.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

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

    Approaching a foot of new storm snow has falling on a variety of old surfaces since Sunday, creating somewhat complex conditions. 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 the new snow is drier and has fallen onto either a firm smooth crust or faceted snow with more shallowly buried weak layers. Sustained warm temperatures from last week helped break down some of these shallowly buried weak layers, but they remain a concern in shaded and sheltered slopes.

    Solar aspects where previously wetted snow has refrozen into a supportable crust, and are now overlayed with recent storm snow, are the least likely places to trigger a persistent weak layer. If you choose to venture onto more shaded aspects, heed classic warning signs like snow cracks extending from your skis or collapsing around you. If in doubt dig into the slope you intend to ski to look for and test weak layers. If you find signs of instability steer toward lower angle terrain.

    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

Mountain snowfall during the past week has been a welcome change, especially in the southern mountains, where around a foot of recent snow has been reported near the highest peaks. The past few days have brought the return of calm and clear weather and with that, the concerns within the new snow have diminished. However, we are in a holding pattern with our pesky persistent slab problem, which isn’t expected to go away any time soon.

Field teams have been covering a lot of ground lately, trying to tease out any patterns in the weak layer type and distribution so that we can offer sound travel advice and tips for navigating the tricky conditions. We know that the problem exists above about 5,500 feet in many locations, and that in places where the overlying slab is 1 to 2 feet thick, a human might trigger a large dangerous avalanche. However, we are slowly gaining confidence in more southerly aspects, where you can find a hard supportable crust between you and the weak layer. The chances of triggering an avalanche are greater in places where this crust either does not exist at all or is thin enough to break under the weight of a person or a machine. Generally, these more worrisome slopes can be found on all aspects except due south and southwest.

Our confidence starts to diminish again as we climb into terrain higher than about 6500 feet. Benign weather the past few days has allowed field teams to cautiously start venturing into these higher reaches, but we presently still lack sufficient data to confidently rule out very much terrain up there. The exception to this is in the southern mountains, where due to a variety of factors, we have felt confident enough to remove the persistent slab problem from south and southwest facing slopes at all elevations.

If you find yourself out and about today or tomorrow enjoying the sunshine today and make your way above 6,500 feet, please consider submitting an observation to let us know what your seeing up there. This information will be highly valuable to the forecast team as we approach our next period of stormy weather this weekend.

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