Gunnison

Unusual and dangerous avalanche conditions exist. You can easily trigger a large and deadly avalanche on most slopes that face the northern half of the compass. Any avalanche you trigger can grow large enough to bury you and may be destructive enough to break trees and impact valley floors, so if you are caught, survival is unlikely.

Rain and unseasonably warm temperatures up to 11,000 feet will bring notable liquid water to a very concerning slab-over-weak-layer snowpack structure. You might be able to trigger a dangerous wet avalanche at lower elevations that got enough rain on Wednesday. On north-facing slopes, these can break as slab avalanches and easily become large enough to bury you. The easiest way to reduce the chances of being caught in an avalanche is to avoid traveling on or underneath slopes steeper than about 30 degrees that face west through north to southeast. Use caution on steep, sustained, south-facing slopes as well if the snowpack is wet.