Northern San Juan

Recent snowfall accompanied by strong winds will help thicken stiff surface slabs at upper elevations. The most dangerous slopes will have around 8 inches or more of drifted snow. The deepest drifts are on northerly and easterly-facing slopes; avalanches on those slopes will be larger. You are more likely to trigger an avalanche near ridges, on steep rollovers, and in cross-loaded gullies around 35 degrees in steepness. Strong gusts on Sunday may have formed 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.