Flathead Range & Glacier NP

Warming temperatures and recent snow are creating dangerous avalanche conditions. Freshly formed slabs may fail naturally or be triggered by a rider. The chance of a large avalanche failing on a buried weak layer is increasing. Give your loved ones the gift of your safe return by choosing sheltered terrain less than 30 degrees in steepness.

Merry Christmas from the FAC staff. We want to thank all of you for reading this product and supporting our program. Have a wonderful holiday season.

Southwest winds ushered in warm Pacific air Saturday, substantially raising the temperature at all elevations. The turnaround in temperatures is remarkable, with most locations seeing readings 50-60 F higher than experienced Thursday. As of 0200 this morning, most mid-elevation weather stations are on either side of freezing, with the upper-elevation stations in the mid to upper 20s. Colder air is still trapped in some valley locations and is responsible for the dreaded freezing rain experienced Saturday afternoon and overnight.

Many locations picked up around 1 inch of SWE over the past 48 hours, with Flattop, in central Glacier Park, bringing home the lion's share with a whopping 2.7 inches. The recent snow has fallen progressively denser over the past two days and is significantly heavier than the incredibly low-density snow it is capping. Blase was in the Marion Lake area Saturday and noted upside-down near-surface conditions at mid-elevations. This surface warmed through the day, became moist, and glopped to skis in the afternoon. Due to the cold air trapped at low elevations, the snow remained dry and softer than experienced at higher elevations. However, there was a rain report in Essex at 5:00 p.m., so that may have changed. Another observer in that general neighborhood noted surface conditions above 6000 feet were more consolidated due to recent wind.

Saturday, we bumped the avalanche danger to CONSIDERABLE at all elevations. Extremely cold low-density surface snow was warming rapidly and being loaded by fresh, dense snow. The rapid change in the surface conditions was concerning, as was the uncertainty with the NWS weather forecast. We added Loose Wet as an avalanche problem to the low elevations due to the possibility of rain falling on a cold, dry low-density surface at low elevations. We removed this problem today as the surface became roughed up by warming temperatures, rain, and freezing rain. However, warming temperatures may increase the threat of loose slides as the day progresses.

The snow level is expected to rise Monday into Tuesday, into the mid and possibly upper elevation band. The warming will be accompanied by precipitation which will fall as rain below the snow line. We expect the avalanche danger to increase at all elevation bands across the forecast area. If the forecast materializes, we may issue an AVALANCHE WARNING for Monday.

Training: Now's a great time to hone your companion rescue skills. Transceiver parks are open at Whitefish Mountain Resort, one at the summit and one adjacent to Grey Wolf. Both are accessible to snowmachines. You can get more details about training and education opportunities events on our events calendar.

Observations - Thanks to everyone who's been utilizing our new observation submission page. Try it out and help your community by sharing what you see in the backcountry. The form requires you to fill out the location fields and put a dot on a map. Be as specific or vague as you want. Our new Observation View page highlights signs of instability and allows you to filter by date or zone to pull out reports relevant to your objectives.