A winter weather advisory is in affect and moderate to heavy mountain snowfall is to be accompanied by very strong westerly winds. By the mid afternoon at the mid and high elevations, new sensitive wind slabs will have formed on a variety of snow surfaces including hard wind packed snow and thin sun crusts. Skiers and riders will have the potential to trigger these developing slabs as well as older instabilities in the snowpack. Avalanches at low elevations are not expected however if significant accumulations occur there, loose snow sluffs will become possible in shaded terrain where the snowpack is faceted.
By the afternoon today new snow and strong winds will form surface slabs in leeward terrain. If loading is as rapid as predicted these slabs will be very sensitive to human triggers in steep wind loaded terrain at the high elevations although slab depths are likely to be relatively small during daylight hours.
Persistent layers of faceted snow lie in the snowpack. Slabs laying on these layers vary from one foot to as much as four feet in depth. These older slabs could be triggered after initiation of a new wind slab, by a single person hitting a weak spot or by larger loads such as snow machines. Particularly steep, rocky avalanche prone paths should be avoided today.
The chance for periods of snow continues through Saturday. Three to six inches of snow could fall by the evening. Temperatures are to be cooler with mountain temps near zero in the morning rising to near ten degrees in the afternoon. Above 7500 feet, the general avalanche hazard is expected to be Moderate however the hazard could elevate to Considerable if significant additional snowfall and strong winds occur overnight. New wind slabs to a foot in depth could be triggered and the chance continues to trigger older weaknesses in the snowpack that could have depths to a maximum of four feet. Avalanches are not expected below 7500 feet, however, if significant snow falls loose snow sluffs are possible in shaded terrain where the snowpack is entirely faceted.
