Silver Valley & Bitterroot Mountains

New snow and strong winds will contribute to a dramatic shift in today's avalanche problems. Fresh drifted slabs will form on the lee-sides of slopes and terrain features, and in unusual places from swirling, erratic winds. Steer clear of steeper slopes with a lens-shaped appearance or where you see cracking in the snow and places where drifts are around a foot deep could produce a larger slide.

The weather is complicated today, but the avalanche problem isn’t. New snow and strong winds are the ingredients for Wind Slab avalanches. The wet avalanche problems that have been our main concern over the past week are diminishing with the sharp drop in temperature that accompanies today’s low front. The refrozen surface will become a hard bed surface for today’s new snow problem. 

You may notice the difference in distribution and danger rating between our northern zones and the Silver Valley/ Bitterroot zone today. With significantly less snowfall in the past 24hrs and the dramatic loss of snow coverage going well into the middle elevation zone, our forecast team determined that the conditions in the south do not warrant the same bump in danger rating for Wednesday. That said, wild weather breeds strange avalanche problems, so don’t be blind to signs of instabilities and heightened danger.

Steady snowfall is forecasted to continue through Friday morning with up to and inch of liquid water on its way, amounting to about 8 inches of new snow. Strong winds, with gusts exceeding 50-70 mph will be hard at work, drifting the abundant new snow along ridgelines and leeward fetches. With this long period of unusually strong winds at play, expect to encounter fresh slabs in areas farther below the ridgelines than normal. For the next two days, we expect the slabs to progressively thicken and progressively increase in their sensitivity and distribution.

With the recent rain on snow weather events the base of the snowpack has significantly receded up the mountain slopes throughout our forecast zones. The deluge of runoff from rain and melt water has destroyed bridges and washed out many mountain roads. The saturated soils and wind will further complicate access as widespread downing of trees is expected. Access to our winter mountain recreation spots will be impacted, possibly for the duration of our season as cleanup efforts will be slow and the snowpack needs time to rebuild from near baseline. Hopefully this is the last of the atmospheric rivers and the current weather system continues to produce incremental gains in height of snow over the coming week. In the meantime have patience, bide your time and make safe decisions when you choose to venture out into the mountains again.