West Central Montana Avalanche Center

According to a 2018 report from Headwaters Economics, nearly 90 percent of Montanans participate in outdoor recreation for physical and mental well-being. But safety concerns amid the novel coronavirus outbreak are complicating how people get outside.

Two of three Montana men back-country snowmobiling in the Dinah Lake area Wednesday northwest of Seeley Lake were buried under several feet of heavy, wet snow. Their surviving friend was able to dig himself out of the avalanche and call for help. 

An avalanche warning is posted for one of the two mountains overlooking the city of Missoula.

"We’re seeing dangerous avalanche conditions and a snowpack that we see nowhere else in our advisory area," says Travis Craft, the director of the West Central Montana Avalanche Center which is evaluating snowpack on Missoula’s Mount Jumbo.

New snow is piling up on top of a weak base in western Montana’s backcountry. That’s why the West Central Montana Avalanche Center bumped the avalanche danger rating to ‘considerable’ through Wednesday morning.