Avalanche forecast

East Cabinet Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Wed
Alpine
4 · High
Treeline
4 · High
Below
3 · Considerable
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Highlights

Moderate to heavy snowfall and strong winds has added more stress to a snowpack with fragile weak layers buried below and very dangerous avalanche conditions exist. Avalanches can break widely across slopes connecting multiple start zones, and it will be very easy for backcountry travelers to trigger them. Avoid traveling on or near slopes over 30 degrees and give avalanche paths an extra wide margin.

Avalanche problems

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Very Likely
    Size
    1–2

    Heavy snowfall and increasing winds will increase slab depths and sensitivity. Varied snowfall last night, combined with forecasted snow amounts today, may add up to varied snow totals across the zone. Cohesive slabs will build over weak layers with the added snowfall. Storm slabs avalanches could step down to deeper buried persistent weak layers. Today's two avalanche problems overlap, and the same travel advice applies to both: avoid being on or under slopes 30 degrees or steeper.

    On February 17th, an IPAC field team easily triggered this large Storm Slab Avalanche while traveling along a gentle ridgeline. Similar conditions are expected today with new snow and growing slab depths.

    Photo: Jackson George

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    2–3

    Slab depths over fragile persistent weak layers are generally 2 to 3 feet deep. This means, avalanches breaking in any one of our suspect weak layers below - multiple surface hoar layers or faceted crusts - are capable of producing an avalanche large enough to bury, injure, or kill a person. These dangerous slabs slowly formed during incremental snowfall in February, and have more recently reached a critical mass threshold. The most recent snow load did not provide the major gut punch to the snowpack we had hoped for to provoke a widespread natural cycle. Instead, the snowpack on many slopes was pushed toward the edge without completely falling apart, and now teeter there waiting for a rider or machine to tickle it in the wrong spot.

    As the overlying slab got thicker and became more connected across terrain features, we observed an uptick in size for both natural and human-triggered avalanches. Clear warning signs like long-shooting cracks and audible collapses have returned and these clues of unstable snow are also being reported well away from the slope that avalanches. This classically describes the unpredictable, remote-trigger behavior of Persistent Slab avalanches. Because of this, it’s not enough to simply avoid traveling on steeper slopes, but it’s also imperative to avoid traveling in lower-angled terrain with steeper, bigger hazards directly above.

    This large avalanche that failed on a buried persistent weak layer was triggered by throwing a block of snow over the ridge and onto the start zone. This speaks volumes to the fragile nature of the snowpack, and the sensitivity will only increase with new snow and strong winds. 

    February 22, 2026.

Avalanche Discussion

Over the past week, we have had almost daily reports of large human-triggered and natural avalanches across multiple zones in the forecast area. Incremental loading since February 14 has been nudging the snowpack closer and closer to failure, and the number of reported avalanches increased as slab depths deepened and weak layers reached their breaking point. The intensity has been building, and now a warm and potent storm moving in will deliver a more abrupt punch to a very weak snowpack that was already hanging on the edge.

Strong winds will move in with the new storm system, with speeds forecasted to reach 40 to 50 mph. Wind speeds this strong will load typical start zones and steep terrain features, but will also create loading further down slope and may create drifting in places that we don’t typically see. This, in and of itself, is a dangerous scenario, but many of the aspects that will see the most wind loading are also the same aspects harboring weak layers that have been responsible for the recent human-triggered and natural avalanches. An avalanche that fails within the new snow could step down to these weak layers, and in this situation, an already large avalanche could grow into a very large and destructive size.

Persistent Slab avalanches can break in surprising ways and span adjacent terrain features, releasing multiple start zones at once. Reported avalanches failing on persistent weak layers have been triggered from distances away, either from flat ridge lines above, adjacent to steep slopes, or from flat terrain in run-out zones.

Very dangerous conditions exist, and will continue with more snowfall. As snow depths have increased at lower elevations, the risk of avalanches has expanded to slopes that have spent a lot of the season at LOW (1of5) danger due to lesser snow cover. The sheer number of easily triggered avalanches this week should make it really simple to plan your day if you choose to get out: Avoid being on, close to, and under slopes over 30 degrees in steepness, and remember that avalanches could run the full length of their run out zones into low-angle terrain below.

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