Take advantage of a stable snowpack while it lasts. If snow accumulations pick up earlier than expected, new snow will slide easily as it falls onto a slick melt-freeze crust. Exercise safe travel protocols by traveling one at a time in avalanche terrain, keeping eyes on your partner.
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Above 6500 ft.
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5000-6500 ft.
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3500-5000 ft.
A recent melt-freeze crust has locked the snowpack in place. Areas of the southern Whitefish Range picked up 1 to 2 inches of snow last night, which will sluff easily on the melt-freeze crust. If you decide to venture into avalanche terrain today, travel one at a time, keeping eyes on your partner in the case of an unlikely avalanche. Give ridgelines a wide berth to reduce your risk of unintentionally triggering a large cornice as they often break further back than expected.
On Saturday, upper elevations of the Flathead Range and Glacier National Park saw snow accumulations reach 7 inches with winds strong enough to transport into isolated pockets of wind slabs. Today, as winds pick up again, any new or recent soft snow will be transported onto stout crusts or older wind affected surfaces. Fresh wind slabs will be small and inconsequential as long as you avoid riding above terrain traps. Clues should be obvious by looking at surface textures as shown in the picture here, or by observing snow blowing off ridgelines. There isn't enough transportable snow in the Whitefish or Swan Ranges for this problem to be much a concern.
Each significant load of water and wind this season has consistently overburdened weak layers near the ground, producing large to historic size avalanches on leeward aspects in upper elevations of the Flathead Range and Glacier National Park. Recent cold temperatures and a lack of wind loading have allowed the snowpack to adjust from Saturday’s smack of warm, wet, windy weather. Today, we expect Deep Slab avalanches to be unlikely to trigger, especially areas where a supportable crust reaches; however, this is no soft slab or loose dry avalanche problem. If triggered, one of these avalanches will be unsurvivable, that is for certain. If you are just tuning in now, take a moment to look at pictures from Saturday’s impressive Deep Slab cycle (Example A, Example B, Example C)
We can thank a thick, stout melt-freeze crust that formed on February 1st for giving us a mostly stable snowpack. This crust reaches all elevations in the Swan and the Whitefish Range and reported up to 7800 feet in the Flathead Range. We expect that the low-density snow above this crust has been faceting, and will continue to facet today with cold temperatures. Moving forward, it will likely be our next persistent weak layer and problem child.
Today, winds will be moderate gusting to strong with temperatures in the high teens and low twenties. An active pattern will impact our area during the evening hours and continue through the week.
| Tuesday | Tuesday Night | Wednesday | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Cover: | Partly Cloudy | Mostly Cloudy | Mostly Cloudy |
| Temperatures: | 13 to 18 deg. F. | 10 to 13 deg. F. | 21 to 26 deg. F. |
| Wind Direction: | Southwest | Southwest | Southwest |
| Wind Speed: | 16G32 | 22G36 | 19G32 |
| Snowfall: | 0" in. | 2" to 3" in. | 4" to 7" in. |
| Snow Line: | 0' | 0' | 500' |
This forecast applies only to backcountry areas outside established ski area boundaries. The forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur. This forecast expires at midnight on the posted day unless otherwise noted. The information in this forecast is provided by the USDA Forest Service who is solely responsible for its content.
