Over a foot of new snow and strong winds overnight have created dangerous avalanche conditions. Large slab avalanches involving the new snow could release naturally or easily be triggered by humans and run long distances. At the higher elevations very large deep slab avalanches involving old layers of snow could also be human triggered or release naturally and run into lower elevation avalanche run out zones. Expert route selection skills and conservative terrain decisions are essential for safe travel in avalanche terrain today.
Strong westerly winds have drifted new snow onto leeward aspects. Dangerous wind slab avalanches up to three feet in depth could release naturally or be triggered by humans in major avalanche paths and on steep avalanche prone slopes.
At the higher elevations strong winds and recent new snow continue to increase the load on persistent weak layers of faceted snow near the base of the snowpack. Dangerous hard slab avalanches up to five feet in depth could release naturally or be triggered by a person on this problem layer. These deep slab avalanches are more likely to fail on northwesterly through northeasterly aspects above 8,500 feet and could step down from the release of a wind slab. Being caught in one of these slides could easily result in a fatality.
( Discussion is generated from the previous day's afternoon forecast. )Skies will remain cloudy with periods of light to moderate snowfall. Temperatures will be in the single digits and teens in the mountains and in the teens and 20's in the valleys. Westerly winds are forecast to increase to 20 to 30 miles per hour with higher gusts.At the higher elevations skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers could trigger wind slab avalanches in steep wind-loaded avalanche starting zones. These slabs could be 1 to 3 feet deep and have been formed by southwest to west winds. Humans could also trigger deep persistent slabs up to 5 feet deep on a basal layer of faceted snow. Triggering one of these dangerous slab avalanches is likely to result in severe consequences. At the lower elevations shallow pockets of wind slab could be human triggered on isolated terrain features. The general avalanche hazard is expected to be moderate above an elevation of 7,500 feet and low below that elevation.
