Northern New Mexico

Moderate avalanche danger exists at all elevations as you can trigger a persistent slab avalanche on west through north to southeast aspects. These avalanches will fail at the weak faceted or facet/crust old snow surface that formed during the January high-pressure and is now buried by 2 to 3 feet of snow.  Pay attention to obvious signs of instability like loud audible collapses and shooting cracks on the surface. Avoid being on or connected to slopes steeper than 35 degrees as you could potentially remotely trigger an avalanche from below.   

In very steep northerly terrain, you may trigger a small loose snow sluff that could take you off your feet and push you over a cliff in high-consequence terrain.  

A weak quick-moving system pushes into northern NM this morning with just a light dusting of an inch or two forecasted today before it exits later this afternoon.  This system won't change the avalanche danger as it remains at Moderate at all elevations today.  

The 2 to 3-feet of low-density snow that fell from the last storm has been settling and stiffening over the last couple of days and yesterday in travels I was getting widespread collapse and long propagating shooting cracks off of my ski tips on north and east aspects at all elevations.  We've seen a quick change in the new snow over the last couple of days that is allowing it to act more like a cohesive slab and able to propagate across slopes on the weak faceted layer that formed on the old snow surface. Typically, we'll see new storm slabs trend the opposite way, with instabilities decreasing over time. Under the current scenario, we may find an uptick in avalanche activity days after the storm.   The current snow surface is still light powdery snow with ski penetration still well over a foot, so deciphering a "cohesive slab" may be difficult and lure you into steeper terrain.  Take the time to dig down to the old snow interface to identify if the weak layer is present and if it's able to propagate in an extended column test.  Yesterday I was getting easy force to get this layer to propagate across a column. 

The light low-density snow from this last storm system was relieving itself naturally during the intense periods of snowfall Wednesday.  This light cohesionless snow typically starts as a small point release or from underneath your boards and can quickly entrain more snow as it travels quickly down the slope as if it's running like water.  If you find yourself on terrain steeper than 40 degrees sluff management will be essential.  These types of avalanches start small, but could take you off your feet which can be problematic in consequential terrain above cliffs or where snow could push you into a terrain trap below.   A smaller point release has the potential to fan out and trigger a wider propagating slab creating a larger avalanche.

Above treeline, diurnal winds have seen an uptick in wind speeds overnight, and yesterday morning snow was being transported at upper elevation ridgelines.  At these upper elevations slopes you may find a stiffening of the surface in the upper 20 cm of snow.  These pocketed wind slabs will most likely fail at the old snow surface of faceted crusts that formed prior to this last storm. Watch for obvious wind drifted pillows on the leeward sides of ridgelines and in cross-loaded gullies and shooting cracks off your boards. 

  The deeper persistent slab problem that we typically deal with in these parts this time of year has mostly remained unreactive since the last big avalanche cycle New Years Day. Facets and depth hoar near the ground on northerly aspects still linger, but it doesn't appear that the added weight of this last storm tipped the scales on its own.  There is still some uncertainty about how this deeper persistent weak layer would react to the added stress of a rider though.  Before this recent storm snowpack depths varied greatly and it was areas where the overall snowpack was shallower that these deeper weak layers were less insulated and more likely to be triggered.