Northern San Juan

You can trigger an avalanche where new snow accompanied by strong winds form cohesive slabs over weak layers. Avalanches will be larger where winds have drifted snow into deeper slabs on lee slopes. Avoid steep slopes where you find more than 8 inches of new snow. Cracking in the snow surface, collapsing, or avalanches on similar slopes are obvious signs of instability and a sign to move to lower-angle terrain.

On west-to-northwest through east-facing slopes, avalanches in the new snow could step down into buried weak layers, triggering a slide that would break deeper and wider.

You can find safer travel on slopes less than about 30 degrees and areas protected from the wind.