Backcountry skiers and riders have the potential to initiate avalanches in steep terrain on a variety of aspects today, Natural activity is unlikely, however the weight of a single person has the potential to trigger slabs that could involve wind loaded pockets of recently fallen snow and could involve deeper layers that rest on weak faceted snow. Careful evaluation of the snowpack and its relation to specific terrain features is recommended for safe backcountry travel.
Strong winds that accompanied snowfall earlier in the week formed slabs on a variety of aspects with depths to two feet 8000 feet and to a foot below that elevation. These slabs have become less sensitive over the last two days but a chance continues to trigger them, particularly in unsupported cliff bands at the higher elevations and very steep wind deposited areas in lower terrain.
Above 8000 feet, the chance continues for large to very large avalanches involving old weak snow layers be triggered with depths to four feet. Failure of these layers is hard to predict and may require either a specific weak, shallow spot on the slope to be impacted or a large load such as a group of people, cornice drop, or a moving surface slab.
( Discussion is generated from the previous day's afternoon forecast. )Clouds that are to pass through the area tonight may provide a few flurries or a brief period of light snow to the mountains. Wednesday looks to be dry with partly to mostly cloudy skies. Inversion conditions will allow mountain temperatures to range from morning lows in the teens to highs in the upper twenties in the afternoon. Valleys should start near zero degrees before rising into the thirties. Winds are to be light and variable. The general avalanche hazard will be Moderate at all elevations. Above 8000 feet, recently formed wind slabs have become less likely to fail. However in very steep wind loaded terrain, particularly in cliff areas where the slabs are unsupported, skiers or riders could still trigger them to depths of three feet. Also at the higher elevations, large avalanches involving persistent weak layers deeper in the snowpack have some potential to occur. Triggering these deeper layers is likely to take lake a larger impact such as the initiation of a surface slab or a group of people, although in some areas a single person hitting a weak spot could cause failure, particularly in steep areas where the snowpack is shallow. At lower elevations, the potential continues to trigger pockets of slab where recently wind loaded snow lies over a generally weak snowpack.
