Dangerous avalanche conditions continue to pose a serious threat to backcountry travelers. At the mid and upper elevations there is a widespread problem involving cohesive slabs lying upon well developed faceted snow layers and hard crusts. Although slightly less sensitive than earlier in the week, skiers and riders are still likely to trigger these slides in avalanche terrain. Below 7500 feet, the hazard is limited to isolated areas. Understanding this problem and making conservative terrain choices is essential in avoiding accidents today.
The problematic, persistent weak snow layers could still fail as a person first enters avalanche terrain or after a slope has been previously tracked. Above 7500 feet, these slabs could have depths to as much as four feet. At lower elevations slabs twelve to eighteen inches are possible.
Flow aloft will back to the southwest as a weak Pacific weather system begins to move through the area Saturday morning. Skies will be overcast and light intensity snowfall will be possible throughout the day. Overnight lows in the mountains will be near 20 before rising back into the mid-20s during the day. Westerly ridgetop winds will back to the southwest at 15 to 25 miles per hour.While the likelihood of triggering dangerous persistent slab avalanches is decreasing, the consequences remain high, and CONSIDERABLE hazard is still warranted above 7,500 feet. Skiers and riders venturing into steep, avalanche-prone terrain could trigger these persistent slabs to depths up to four feet. With a persistent slab problem, snow pits are useful to examine the snow structure, but negative stability tests results should not be used as an excuse to ski a slope. As the day progresses, new snowfall and winds will also begin to build isolated pockets of shallow wind slab.
