Snowmobilers caused avalanche resulting in one fatality. It occurred at Brown Bear Mine near Harts Pass.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.
Snowmobilers caused avalanche resulting in one fatality. It occurred at Brown Bear Mine near Harts Pass. It started at around 6600 feet and traveled to 6240 feet. The area was under moderate avalanche outlook at the time.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Spokane, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 28, 8:33 AM PST, 2 hours 47 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 833 AM PST Fri Feb 28 2025 .SYNOPSIS... Dry weather and mild temperatures are expected through Sunday. The forecast calls for chances of light rain and mountain snow Monday and Tuesday. Temperatures will be closer to average next week with highs in the 40s and low 50s and lows in the 30s. && .DISCUSSION... Friday through Sunday: Dry conditions, light winds, and afternoon high temperatures in the 50s to low 60s will persist through Sunday due to a ridge of high pressure remaining over the Inland Northwest. As is often the case, the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley and the deep central Columbia Basin including Ritzville, Mattawa, and Moses Lake will be at the warm end of this range. Clear skies and light winds will allow temperatures to cool to near or just below freezing each night, and patchy fog development will be possible for the sheltered valleys of northern WA and ID. Heading into Sunday we'll see the pattern begin to shift with a low pressure system on track to move inland to our south. While models suggest the bulk of the moisture associated with the low will remain in Oregon and California, some of it will spin up into the Northwest, bringing light showers to the Cascade crest, Blues, and central ID panhandle beginning Sunday night. Temperatures Sunday afternoon will be 3 to 7 degrees cooler than those on Friday and Saturday. /Fewkes Monday and Tuesday: Over the next 7 days, Monday carries the highest probabilities for precipitation at this time. The models have trended further south with the upper low making landfall along the West Coast this weekend. The track of the low 24 hours ago looked like it would be through northern California and Oregon. The latest ensembles favor central California and Nevada. If this trend holds true, the low in the southern branch of the Polar Jet will be too far south to generate much meaningful precipitation Sunday. Our better shot will come with a clipper type system in the northern branch diving down the spine of the Canadian Rockies. The National Blend of Models (NBM) generates a 40 to 60 percent chance of light valley rain and mountain snow Monday and Monday night over the Idaho Panhandle and a 20 to 30 percent chance for the eastern third of Washington. Mid-level northwest flow will favor the ridges of southern Shoshone county where up to a couple of inches of snow will be possible by Tuesday morning above 4000 feet. If the timing of the ensemble mean holds true, precipitation chances across north Idaho and the eastern third of Washington will decrease through the day Tuesday. The weak northerly push accompanying the clipper is expected to cool our temperatures close to average for early March with highs in the mid 40s in north Idaho to the low 50s in the Columbia Basin and L-C Valley Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday through Friday: Temperatures should remain fairly consistent (near average) through the end of the week. There is decent ensemble agreement that the Pacific Northwest will remain under the influence of a benign split flow pattern. There are differences in the timing and track of weak disturbances over the second half of the week. The NBM handles this by placing 20 to 40 percent chances of light rain and mountain snow across mainly orographically favored areas like the Cascades and Idaho Panhandle. Pretty typical stuff for early March. /GKoch && .AVIATION... 18Z TAFS: High pressure will prevail with VFR conditions throughout the region. Any localized fog/stratus will lift quickly this morning. Winds will remain light and predominantly out of the east. High cirrus will brush across the north. More localized fog/stratus could develop in sheltered river valleys by early Saturday morning. FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND/OR ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: Moderate to high confidence of VFR conditions through the TAF period. There is a very low chance of IFR conditions in the KGEG/KCOE area by early Saturday morning. /rfox. ----------------------- Confidence descriptors: Low - Less than a 30 percent chance Moderate - 30 to 70 percent chance High - Greater than a 70 percent chance && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 57 32 55 32 51 36 / 0 0 0 0 10 10 Coeur d'Alene 56 30 56 31 51 34 / 0 0 0 0 0 10 Pullman 58 33 59 33 50 36 / 0 0 0 0 10 10 Lewiston 63 36 61 36 54 41 / 0 0 0 0 10 10 Colville 52 30 53 31 51 33 / 0 0 0 0 10 10 Sandpoint 49 31 50 32 48 34 / 0 0 0 0 10 10 Kellogg 53 34 58 33 51 37 / 0 0 0 0 10 10 Moses Lake 60 31 58 33 54 36 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wenatchee 54 35 51 37 52 39 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Omak 51 32 50 34 50 35 / 0 0 0 0 0 10 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
Northwest Avalanche Center reported a fatal backcountry avalanche 2 miles south of Harts Pass at Brown Bear Mine. Three snowmobiles triggered the avalanche. It resulted in 1 fatality and 1 injury.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche, Western Okanogan County | 2025-02-28 | 40 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
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NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1250001.