Southeast Mountains

You can still trigger a dangerous avalanche where you find supportive slabs resting on top of weak snow.  The most concerning terrain features are located near and above treeline where winds have formed large, cohesive slabs.  Signs of instability have become less frequent, so don't necessarily expect feedback from the snowpack.  If you are stepping into avalanche terrain, choose terrain features that have lower consequences like slopes that are smaller in size and are free of terrain traps.  

Yesterday's storm created a small impact on the overall avalanche hazard for a limited geographic area in the Northwest Mountains.  Areas in the Ruby Range, in the Northwest Mountains, received up to 7 inches of new snow that was transported by westerly winds.  Fresh, shallow Wind Slabs have formed on leeward terrain features with easterly aspects being the bullseye.  With limited amounts of new snow, Wind Slab formation will be on the small side and likely be found immediately below ridgetops.  Fresh drifts could be up to a foot deep in places but will taper in thickness further below ridgetop.  The Wind Slab problem largely overlaps with the Persistent Slab problem.  Consider the possibility that a triggered Wind Slab could "step-down" and release a much larger, and more dangerous Persistent Slab avalanche.  The most likely places to find a Wind Slab are precisely the locations with the most worrisome Persistent Slab issues.

Sheltered areas that face west, north, and easterly aspects continue to hold on to the Persistent Slab problem, but the snowpack has been slowly changing since the last major loading event back around December 28th.  For areas in the Southeast Mountains, slabs have little by little began to lose strength due to faceting.  As slabs facet and lose strength, they are less likely to propagate significant distances and the expected avalanche size is becoming smaller.  Even though slabs are weakening, if you trigger an avalanche and are pushed into terrain traps like rocks, trees, or ditches then the consequences remain high.  To see an example of weakening slabs in the Southeast Mountains take a look at this observation from Snodgrass.  Sheltered terrain in the Northwest Mountains has received significantly more snow than the Southeast Mountains and slabs are denser and have yet to lose as much strength.  The Persistent Slab problem, in sheltered terrain, for areas with deeper accumulations remains a more concerning problem due to the potential size even though triggering has slowly become less likely.

Drifted terrain features near and above treeline, in both the Northwest Mountains and Southeast Mountains, are the most dangerous slopes.  The faceting process will not be able to weaken the slabs that have formed.  Expect the continued possibility of triggering a deadly avalanche on drifted features to linger well into the future.  Consider this fact: 40% of avalanche fatalities occur at a MODERATE danger level.  The avalanche hazard is improving, but do not let your guard down because signs of instability like collapsing and cracking are decreasing.  Continue to expect surprises if you are traveling around drifted features at upper elevations.