Northern San Juan

Snowfall on Sunday adds fuel to the wind-drifting engine and will help thicken stiff surface slabs at upper elevations. West-southwest wind will drift the new snow into deeper drifts on northerly and easterly-facing slopes, and avalanches on those slopes will be larger. The most dangerous slopes will have around 8 inches of new snow, and it will be easier to trigger an avalanche near ridges, on steep rollovers, and in cross-loaded gullies around 35 degrees in steepness. Gusty winds may form problematic drifts in unusual places, or lower down the slope. Avoid traveling where the snow surface looks smooth and pillow-like, and adjust your travels if you see cracking in the snow.

Thin, weaker snow layers buried one to two feet deep have behaved stubbornly during prior storms, but this new snow load may increase the potential for a shallow, wind-drifted avalanche to break deeper. These isolated, lower-probability avalanches will be more consequential if you get knocked off your feet in complex terrain or above terrain traps.