Southern San Juan

An Avalanche Watch is in effect from Wednesday morning and lasting through Friday. Strong southwest winds and intense snowfall will rapidly increase the avalanche danger, with very dangerous conditions developing on Wednesday. Traveling in avalanche terrain is not recommended during this period.

Expect rapidly changing conditions and increasing avalanche danger on Tuesday. Very strong southwest winds and periods of heavy snowfall will quickly build reactive slabs. The most dangerous areas will be where winds drift snow onto leeward slopes facing north, northeast, and east, building thicker slabs over buried weak layers. Here, an avalanche in the new snow could step down and trigger deeper weak layers, making it large enough to bury you.

Utilize inconsequential test slopes to assess the new snow and watch out for cracking and collapsing as a sign that it is forming a slab, and you should avoid slopes steeper than about 35 degrees. Safer travel can be found in wind-sheltered terrain.