Avalanche warning issued for mountains in N. Idaho

Avalanche danger is increasing in the mountains of North Idaho with Thursday night’s snow storm falling on top of a crusted layer of hoar frost and light snow. The Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center today said that the risk of a snow slide is moderate today, but will increase as a new Pacific storm arrives in the region Saturday night. In response, the National Weather Service in Spokane today issued an avalanche warning for Sunday and Monday for the mountains of Bonner, Boundary and Shoshone counties. The warnings do not apply to maintained ski areas. The weather service is predicting 5 to 17 inches of new snow on Saturday night and Sunday in the mountains on top of the 3 to 5 inches that fell overnight Thursday and this morning. The forecast calls for heavier snow in the mountains near Lookout Pass. Snow changing to rain is expected at lower elevations. The avalanche center said that it has found two layers of instability in the snow pack that could fail with a new snow load on top of them. The avalanche center specifically identified the Selkirk and Cabinet mountains northwest and northeast of Sandpoint and the St. Regis Basin adjacent to the Silver Valley in Shoshone County as currently having moderate avalanche danger.