Gunnison

Avalanche hazards are small and isolated, and the snowpack is generally safe. With the increased wind today, keep an eye out for any developing wind slabs near ridgelines at upper elevations. These fresh slabs are expected to be small and may be identified by thicker-looking drifts on the lee sides of terrain features. In steep or extreme terrain a small wind slab or sluff could knock you off your feet and push you into exposed rocks given the shallow snowpack.   

The big change on Tuesday will be the increased winds. The Scarps Ridge weather station at 12,000ft is recording gusts into the 30mph range early this morning while CBMR is seeing gusts into the 20's. Those ridgeline winds are expected to further increase through the next 24 hours. Any snow available for transport by the wind will be building fresh wind slabs at upper elevations. These fresh wind slabs will be the primary avalanche hazard to keep an eye out for today. However, any slabs that do develop are expected to be small and somewhat isolated in distribution given the low amount of snow available for transport. That primary snow available for transport is from last weekend's storm, where accumulations ranged from a dusting, on up to 6" of new snow having favored the Ruby Range and NW forecast area. This observation from Monday, pointed out how much of that snow has already been redistributed and left less snow available for transport today. 

Given that any new wind slabs are expected to be small and isolated today, the trend to MODERATE avalanche danger above treeline is now delayed until Wednesday. Accumulating snow should startup around sunset, and that snow combined with the wind forecast will lead to a more notable wind slab avalanche problem developing tonight and tomorrow. If the NW forecast area receives the upper end of the potential snow forecast we may also see a bump in avalanche danger at near treeline elevations too. 

Moving on from the wind slab discussion and looking at the bigger picture. Where we have snow on the ground it is primarily weak. Any slabs above those weak layers have faceted away or become dormant under the predominantly dry weather pattern. Normal caution travel advice and LOW avalanche danger will hold until we add more snow to the mix and build new avalanche problems.