At the mid and upper elevations today's new snow and strong southwest winds will increase the general avalanche hazard by creating new soft slabs on leeward aspects and increasing the load on persistent weak layers, comprised of areas of buried surface hoar at mid depth in the snowpack and a faceted snow/crust combination near the base of the snowpack.
At the upper elevations humans who venture into steep avalanche starting zones could trigger soft slabs one to two feet in depth that were formed by southwest winds. At the mid elevations isolated pockets of soft slab up to 18 inches in depth could be human triggered in very steep, active avalanche paths and cliff areas.
Some potential may exist for storm slabs to step down to depths of two to four feet in active avalanche paths that are underlain by faceted snow and crust that formed early in the season and are buried deep in the snowpack.
Skies will be cloudy with periods of light snowfall and flurries. In the mountains accumulations of one to three inches of new snow are possible. Temperatures at 9,000 feet will be in the 20s. Summit winds will be westerly at 20 to 30 with gusts to 45 miles per hour. At the upper elevations strong west winds will continue to drift snow into avalanche starting zones on lee aspects along exposed ridge crests. Humans who venture into these areas could trigger soft surface slabs one to two feet deep. Some potential may persist in isolated areas for deeper slabs to fail on a layer of faceted snow and crust near the base of the snowpack. The general avalanche hazard is expected to be MODERATE at the upper elevations and LOW at the mid and lower elevations.
