Avalanche forecast

Silver Valley & Bitterroot Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Wed
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

We have Low avalanche danger but not quite green light conditions today. Increasing wind may transport our 2-4 inches of new snow and build unstable but small new slabs above treeline. You can identify this potential new avalanche problem by watching where the wind is blowing and depositing snow. Look for drifts of new snow deeper than a few inches, which our powder fever might draw us to, as areas where it might become possible to trigger a small avalanche. Remember that small avalanches are a big deal if they’re above high consequence terrain like cliffs, rocks, trees, or pronounced gullies. Most terrain will lack an avalanche problem and instead offer a few inches of soft snow over a variable and crusty older snow surface.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1

    Small wind slabs that are possible for you to trigger may develop as today’s forecast W wind increases this afternoon. These new slabs should be easiest to find near exposed ridgelines with aspects on the eastern half of the compass rose. Watch for actively blowing snow as well as scouring on windward aspects and deeper deposits on lee aspects to identify this developing avalanche problem. These new wind slabs should be easy to avoid, you may not find them at all this morning, but watch for our increasing wind to transport some snow and change conditions through the day.

Avalanche Discussion

The warm, spring-like weather of late last week seems to be gone but its changes to our snowpack remain. We think that all aspects and elevations in the St. Regis and Silver Valley zone were at least somewhat affected by this warming. Snow on southerly upper elevation aspects and all lower elevation terrain had the most warming and is now a thick crust under our few inches of new snow. Upper elevation northerly aspects were less affected, and the crust is thin and subtle in these locations. Yesterday’s new snow came in somewhat warm and dense which should help it bond to the crusty old snow. This density makes the riding conditions feel a little less like dust on crust­­­­­.

The upside to the warm weather is that it seems to have helped our recent persistent weak layer gain strength. We didn’t find this buried surface hoar yesterday. We did find it last Thursday, on a NE aspect at 6000’ in elevation, but snow around it was almost moist from the warming and the surface hoar did not produce stability test results. We’re finding more consistent stability test results on an increasingly weak layer immediately below the January 12th crust. Weak layers below a crust are much less concerning than above a crust, as it’s less likely for our weight to affect them. We are continuing to watch this layer on upper elevation northerly aspects where the January 12th crust and our new crust nearer to the surface are thin and less likely to bridge our weight. It’s very unlikely for an avalanche to occur on either of weak these layers, but they are good reminders that despite our recent spring-like weather, we don’t have a uniform spring-like snowpack.

Regions covered