Greg mentioned yesterday in his observation, "Wind-drifting was the player," and that remains true today as well. Strong winds over the past 24 hours have created sensitive soft slabs of wind-drifted snow at the mid and upper elevations. Today, wind-drifted snow avalanches will be stiffer than earlier in the storm and may start to break above you.

While this issue will be of highest concern at the upper elevations, exposed ridge-tops below 9,500 feet may still have areas of wind-drifted snow. The drifted snow will be most prevalent on aspects facing northwest, through north, to east, and south, due to the elevated southwest winds over the past few days. However, between the days of high winds and the shift in wind direction this morning, this problem can be found on all aspects at mid and upper elevations for the time being. Avalanches involving wind-drifted snow may reach depths of over 2 feet and widths of up to 150 feet.

While the new snow should begin to rapidly settle out, storm totals still remain high and temperatures remain low this morning. For that reason, triggering an avalanche involving sluffing or soft slabs of new snow could still be possible on all steep slopes outside of the wind zone.

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Sensitive cornices can be found along many exposed ridgelines at the mid and upper elevations. Avoid traveling on or below corniced ridgelines, as a cornice collapse could trigger a new or wind-drifted snow avalanche.