Avalanche Forecast

Saturday night: Cloudy, scattered flurries with 2-5 cm of accumulation, moderate to strong southwest wind, alpine temperature -8 C. 

Sunday: Cloudy, 5-15 cm of snow, moderate to strong southwest wind, alpine high temperature -8 C.

Monday: Mostly cloudy with 5-10 cm of snow, light southwest wind, alpine high temperature -7 C.

Tuesday: Cloudy, 20-30 cm of snow, light southeast wind, alpine high temperature -5 C.

Widespread, large (size 2-3) natural and human-triggered storm slab avalanches were reported across the region on Saturday. These avalanches were 20-60 cm deep and were reported on all aspects and elevations. Some of these were remotely-triggered (i.e. from a distance).

A report of a larger (size 3.5) avalanche from nearby Glacier National Park indicates that the continual loading on more deeply buried weak layers remains a concern.

60-100 cm of new snow has fallen over the past week creating a touchy storm slab problem. At high elevations, this snow has been redistributed by strong southwest winds, loading lee features near ridges and exacerbating reactivity. The storm snow overlies a weak layer of feathery surface hoar and a hard melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed aspects, also increasing the reactivity of these slabs.

There are a couple more deeply buried weak layers, including a surface hoar layer from mid-December buried 110 to 180 cm deep and a facet/crust layer from late November buried over 180 cm deep. There is lingering concern that easier-to-trigger storm slab avalanches could step down to these deeper, persistent layers or that these weak layers could be human-triggered in areas in the alpine where the snowpack is thin, rocky, or variable.

• Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
• Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and wind exposure.
• Avoid freshly wind loaded terrain features.
• Be aware of the potential for large avalanches due to the presence of buried weak layers.