Avalanche conditions remain dangerous in the backcountry as preexisting layers of very weak snow were overloaded by last week's heavy snow and drifting. While obvious warning signs like cracking and collapsing are less frequent, a persistent weak layer of faceted snow that formed in the January dry spell remains intact. The sugary weak layer is now buried 2 to 3 feet deep, and the avalanches it can produce are large, destructive, and deadly. As the snow gradually stabilizes, the slab layer thickens, avalanches become harder to trigger, but they may be larger. There are fewer obvious signs of instability, but the consequences of getting caught remain the same.

• Large, dangerous, and deadly avalanches can be triggered remotely (from a distance or below).
• Audible collapsing or whumpfs and shooting cracks indicate unstable snow, but may not always be present.

Winds from the south are fairly strong this morning, and they are expected to intensify a bit this afternoon and tonight. Fresh drifts and soft slabs of wind-drifted snow will rapidly form in lee terrain and in and around exposed terrain features at upper elevations. Fresh drifts will further overload previously formed wind slabs, increasing potential for dangerous hard slab avalanches failing on a persistent weak layer.

• Slabs of wind-drifted snow will form in and around terrain features like starting zones, sub-ridges, rock outcroppings, gullies, and mid-slope rollovers.
• Wind slabs of stiffer, drifted snow are rounded and smooth-looking, and they often sound hollow, like a drum.
• Beware if you cause cracking in stiffer drifted snow. Collapsing or whumpfing is a major indicator of instability.
• Small wind slab avalanches overrunning a slope with poor snow structure could cause a larger avalanche to occur.
• Even small avalanches can be quite dangerous if you are carried into trees or other terrain traps below.

Temperatures are expected to climb during the storm, and the rain-snow line is expected to climb. Snow is expected above around 6000' initially, but it is likely to change to rain as high as 8000' by this evening. Loose wet and wet slab avalanches may become likely on steep slopes with rain-saturated snow.