The recent storm brought 10 inches of light density snow to the upper elevations. At the upper elevations northwest winds continue to drift that new snow onto leeward aspects. This new snow lies upon hard old snow surfaces. Up there skiers and riders could trigger soft slab avalanches on steep avalanche prone slopes. A careful assessment of terrain and evaluation of the snow stability is necessary for safe travel in avalanche terrain. Lesser amount of snow, 4 to 6 inches, fell at the mid elevations where isolated pockets of shallow slab could be triggered by humans in extreme terrain. Avalanches are unlikely at the lower elevations.
At the upper elevations fresh wind slabs up to 20 inches in depth that were formed by southwest to northwest winds could be triggered by skiers or riders in steep avalanche starting zones and cliff areas.
In our forecast area the flow over this large high pressure ridge will veer to the north. Skies will be mostly sunny on Wednesday. Temperatures at 10,500 feet will once again drop into the single digits overnight and rise into the teens during the day. Winds will be from the north at 15 to 25 with gusts to 35 miles per hour.Winds slabs at the upper elevations are slowly becoming less reactive to ski cuts in steep avalanche prone slopes. That said pockets of wind slab formed by northwest winds could be triggered by skiers and riders who venture into steep, wind loaded, active avalanche paths. These small slabs are likely to be 6 to 18 inches deep and could be large enough to injure a person. The general avalanche hazard is expected to be MODERATE at the upper elevations (9,000 to 10,500 feet) and LOW at the mid elevations (7,500 to 9,000 feet). Very little snow exists below an elevation of 7,000 feet.
