Well-positioned bands of moisture yesterday brought 6"-8" of low-density snow to the mountains. Moderate southerly winds blew all day, increasing overnight into the 20-25 mph range with gusts into the 40's. Today look for cloudy skies and redeveloping snow showers midday as more moisture ahead of the closed Pacific low streams into the area. 1"-3" are possible. Southerly winds will increase today blowing in the 25-35 mph range with gusts as high as 50 along ridge tops. Light snow should continue overnight. The low will make its way through the 4 Corners region sometime on Saturday though timing and duration, along with snow amounts are still somewhat in question. It's now looking like only a few inches on Saturday with the best chance for snow coming Saturday night into Sunday. All said and done, it's still looking like another 6"-12" between now and Sunday.

In our travels up above North Creek Pass yesterday, we found that the fresh snow had improved conditions though crusts and old tracks could still be felt underneath, particularly on sunnier aspects. The new, low-density snow will be easily transported today by the wind and fresh, unstable drifts will be found on the leeward sides of ridge crests and terrain features, primarily in upper elevation, wind exposed terrain. As winds increase today, we could see some natural soft slab releases or fast running, loose snow sluffs off of some of the larger and steeper terrain. Today is a good day to stay out from underneath long-running slide paths. If you are headed up North Creek, travel under paths that threaten the road one at a time, and don't dawdle. Persistent weak layers of faceted snow still exist in the lower portion of the snowpack, and stability tests indicate that it is still possible to trigger an avalanche on a buried weak layer. Steep, northerly-facing terrain remains the most likely area to trigger this kind of avalanche.