NWS Weather Forecast.

A long wave trough with an "exceptionally strong jet" remains parked over the West, but as the snow continues to pile up in the San Juans, the story for us continues to be mainly about the wind. Today look for cloudy skies, ridge top SW winds in the 20-30 mph range, high temps in the upper teens, and a chance for developing snow showers by afternoon. Sound familiar? A better chance for snow develops overnight as the next shortwave moves through the area but it seems to be another repeat performance of the last two. 3"-5" are possible with snow showers lingering through tomorow. The models are still showing a storm with a decent shot at some accumulating moisture by the end of the year.

The mountains picked up another inch or two of snow bringing totals up to around 10" since Friday night with locally higher amounts at uppe elevations. Coverage prior to this storm was quite thin with most sun and wind exposed slopes still showing lots of grass and occasional patches of bare ground. Northerly facing slopes above about 9500' have held snow since October, and this old snow has formed a weak, sugary, faceted layer at the base of the snowpack and this is where the trouble is. Recent and wind drifted snow has formed a dense slab over top of this weak, sugary snow and human triggered avalanches on steep, wind drifted slopes that face NW through E are likely. On slopes facing W and SE you may find unstable deposits of wind drifted snow. Wind drifts are recognizable by their smooth, rounded appearance and cracking is a sign of instability.

Matthew Cozart was up yesterday and he reported wild, windy weather and unstable avalanche conditions. Read his observation here.