People could trigger wind slab avalanches today, especially in exposed terrain at upper elevations and on drifted mid-elevation slopes facing the east side of the compass. Cornices are likely to break further back than you might expect, and could trigger wind slab avalanches on slopes below.

• Wind slabs are rounded and chalky-looking and can sound hollow, like a drum when you travel over them.
• Cracking is an obvious sign of instability.
• Soft wind slabs of drifted new snow might be quite sensitive to human triggering, while hard, older wind slabs can be devious, sometimes allowing people to get well out on them before releasing suddenly, like a mousetrap.
• Avoid travel on and under cornices and steep slopes with stiff deposits of recently wind-drifted snow.

• Although unlikely, there is lingering potential on isolated slopes with poor snow structure for large and destructive hard slab avalanches that fail on a buried persistent weak layer near the ground. Our concern is gradually decreasing, but the problem may still exist on isolated upper-elevation slopes—especially north-facing, rocky terrain where the snowpack remains thin.
• Another potential buried persistent weak layer consisting of small sugary grains of faceted snow exists on the interface of last year's snow surface and the heavy snow from the New Year's storm. Slab avalanches today, up to three feet thick, might fail on this buried persistent weak layer.