More new snow yesterday morning combined with wind have further loaded and stressed the weak snow near the ground. Avalanches large enough to bury a person were easy to trigger yesterday and will be again today. Travel cautiously and avoid steep slopes.
Wind will increase today and have plenty of soft, loose snow to build slabs. This new snow has been and will continue to be transported onto leeward slopes in the mid and upper elevations and could build slabs up to three feet thick. Given the weak snow beneath the fresh wind slabs, triggering an avalanche large enough to bury you is likely to be easy and will be possible from a distance and from below.
Slopes that are sheltered from the wind continue to hold the potential to produce large avalanches. Recent snow fall began settling into a slab yesterday. This settlement process will continue today which will make these slabs crack and fail further from you. These slabs whould be less touchy than yesterday but may be more widespread. These slopes should fail as far or farther from the trigger. Don't let that trigger be you as these slabs could be 1-2' thick and capable of burying you. This avalanche problem will start looking and behaving like a persistent slab problem.
Despite all the recent snow, total snow on the ground remains shallow enough that trees and rocks remain a significant problem. Beware of these obstacles if you venture off trail searching for powder. The new snow is sitting on very weak snow making it easy to find the ground and all the obstacles beneath.
Warm temperatures and time are turning the recent low density, fluffy snow into a stronger, cohesive slab. Unfortunately the weak snow beneath is not getting any stronger, at least, not in the short term. You can expect this avalanche problems to become less obvious with all the signs and symptoms of a stubborn but dangerous early season persistent weak layer problem in coming days.
Please consider reporting avalanches or field observations here. Your observations help us get a better handle on snow/avalanche conditions and make for more accurate forecasts. Thanks!
