Front Range

A Special Avalanche Advisory for much of Colorado. Heavy snow and strong winds dramatically changed avalanche conditions. You can easily trigger large, deadly avalanches throughout President’s Day weekend.

You will most likely trigger an avalanche where you find more than 8 inches of new or wind-drifted snow. You will find firm pillows of rounded snow below ridgelines, terrain breaks, and cross-loaded gullies. Cracking or collapsing in the new snow are signs you have found surface instability, and you should avoid steep slopes.

These avalanches may stay confined to the surface snow or step down to the ground, as we have seen close to Cameron Pass recently. This is more likely in steep rocky terrain with a shallow snowpack. You can find safer travel on slopes less than about 30 degrees in steepness.