Today's sunshine and warming temperatures will be increasing the general avalanche hazard. Loose snow sloughs are likely on steep sunlit slopes and could entrain large volumes of new snow. The warm up is likely to increase the sensitivity of recently formed wind slabs and deep persistent slabs to human triggers. Monitor conditions for increasing hazard. Conservative terrain choices are warranted during this transition from a cold to a warm regime.
Soft slab avalanches 1 to 3 feet in depth could be triggered by skiers and riders who venture into steep avalanche starting zones, cliff areas and steep couloirs. The likelihood of triggered these surface slabs will increase during the warmest portion of the day.
The recent new snow has increased the load on deeply buried weak layers of faceted snow. These weak layers will be struggling to adjust to the recent load and snow creep that will be occurring on steep slopes as temperatures increase. Deep hard slab avalanches with depths to five feet could still be triggered by humans. These low probability/high consequence avalanches are more likely to be triggered where faceted snow from December resides less than three feet below the snow surface. Large triggers, such as snowmobiles or cornice failures, are more likely to trigger one of these dangerous hard slab avalanches.
Skies will remain mostly clear under a high pressure ridge. Temperatures will drop into the teens tonight and warm into the 20s and 30s during the day. Winds will continue to be light at 5 to 15 miles per hour.Tomorrow will be warmer than today. Wet loose slides are possible on steep sunlit slopes and cliff areas. Skiers and riders could trigger wind slab avalanches up to three feet in depth. Snowmobilers have potential to trigger very dangerous deep slab avalanches up to five feet in depth. Sunshine and warming temperatures will increase the sensitivity of these slab avalanches to human triggers. The general avalanche hazard above an elevation of 7,500 feet is expected to be MODERATE during the early morning hours and increase to CONSIDERABLE as temperatures increase. Conservative terrain choices are warranted.
