Gunnison

Expect to find 1 to 3 inches of fresh snow and winds just fast enough to drift.  Small, shallow slabs may have formed at upper elevations from recent strong winds.  If you see evidence of snow transport or feel stiffer snow on leeward features, expect to potentially trigger a small slab in the recent snow.  Triggering a larger avalanche deeper in the snowpack remains unlikely but lingers as a possibility on upper elevation, shaded slopes.  Your suspicions should be raised for slopes with characteristics like known previous avalanche activity or shallow and rocky appearance.  

Today's weather will bring cloud cover and colder temperatures which will push wet snow avalanche problems off until clearer and warmer weather returns.  A few inches of new snow fell overnight which is likely to drift onto leeward features from westerly winds that will transition to the northwest during the day.  Yesterday the Wind Slab avalanche problem was not included on the list due to the expectation that southwesterly winds would have a hard time finding soft snow to move with all of the crusty surfaces, but observations from Monday showed plumes of snow off many peaks for much of the day.  Much of that blowing snow was shot into the atmosphere at did not load leeward features, but some isolated locations did receive loading.  A natural avalanche was observed out West Brush Creek yesterday that was big enough to take you for a ride, but not quite big enough to fully bury a person.  Expect to find isolated leeward slopes on the east half of the compass that contain sensitive Wind Slabs.  Overnight snowfall may obscure some surface clues on features with fresh Wind Slab formation so you may need to feel the snow for stiffer textures to identify.  Due to the strong winds, you may also find shallow slabs in more unusual places in addition to the typical places described in the problem discussion,  Take care to manage this problem if you are venturing into extreme or exposed terrain as even a small avalanche can have a serious consequence if you are carried over cliffs, or pushed into rocks/trees.

The lingering Persistent Slab problem continues to sit on the problem list.  Triggering a larger avalanche deeper in the snowpack should be on your mind for isolated slopes around the forecast area.  Slopes with increased concern are those at upper elevations that avalanched in February.  These slopes remained shallow and weak coming into March and have subsequently been refilled by frequent small storms and wind-loading.  Here are a couple of recent Persistent Slab avalanches that failed on slopes that ran in February ( Cement Mountain, Axtel, Whetstone). If you have a shaded, alpine objective in mind it is worth your time to sift through the observations page to see if it avalanched back in February.  Other slopes that remain suspicious are upper elevation and northerly-facing with a shallow or rocky appearance.  You are more likely to find these types of slopes in the Southeast Mountains as less snow has accumulated in these areas this winter, but you can also, less commonly, find it in the Northwest Mountains.  A good gauge for shallowness is around 4 to 5 feet or less of total snow depth.