Earlier in the week, drifts built up on sugary or faceted persistent weak layers, and heightened avalanche conditions exist at all elevations. The shallow snow on the ground in many areas became loose, sugary, and faceted during the New Years cold spell. Slabs of harder snow formed on top of the loose faceted snow, and if you trigger an avalanche today it will likely step down into old snow and could be large and dangerous. Avalanches will most likely be directly triggered on very steep slopes with shallow snow and poor snow structure, but you might trigger one remotely, from a distance, or below. The sugary snow on many low elevation and mid elevation slopes will likely remain weak for a while.

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Solar warming is causing the snow on sunny slopes to get moist and sloppy during the middle of the day. When the crust from overnight softens, the wet surface snow can become prone to loose avalanches, and these can entrain large piles of heavy snow on steep slopes. If you notice roller balls or natural sluffs, move off and out from under steep slopes with saturated surface snow.