Low avalanche danger exists throughout the forecast region. Loose wet avalanches and persistent slab avalanches are unlikely today. Practice safe travel protocols and watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features.
Loose wet avalanches remain a concern today with mostly sunny skies and well above average temperatures forecasted. Most of the instabilities should be limited to roller balls, pinwheels, and small point releases. Larger wet loose avalanches have not occurred over the last several days and are not expected to form today.
In isolated areas on NW-N-NE aspects, near crust faceted snow exists below the Jan 24-25 storm snow. This layer of weak snow has been found throughout the forecast region and has continued to show weakness in the southern part of the forecast area-Luther Pass, Carson Pass, and Ebbetts Pass. Although avalanche activity has been limited, snowpack tests have shown unstable results over the weekend and into Monday. This weak layer has been observed to be buried anywhere from 8'' to 3' deep and has been found in near treeline and below treeline terrain. On a regional scale, this avalanche problem has become unlikely.
* Wet surface snow has been observed on most aspects up to 9000' by midday. Roller balls and pinwheels have been reported throughout the forecast region on all aspects and elevations.
* Snowpack tests targeting the near crust facet layer showed unstable test results on Elephants Hump (Carson Pass area) on Monday. This was consistent with other signs of instability and unstable test results from Carson Pass and Ebbetts Pass over the past weekend.
