Expect to find fresh wind slabs up to around 2 feet deep in upper and mid elevation terrain exposed to drifting. Saturday's storm included fairly strong south winds which veered around the west side of the compass, coming from the north-northwest by Saturday night. West-northwest winds increased overnight and are now averaging in the upper teens, which is enough to cause additional drifting in exposed terrain. In some areas, wind slabs built up on weak sugary snow that was on or near the snow surface in early February, and instability could persist for a little while. Avoid stiffer wind deposited snow on steep slopes, and watch for potential wind slabs in and around terrain features like sub-ridges, gullies, and cliff bands. Be cautious traveling along the high ridges, since overhanging cornices might break further back than expected, and cornice falls could trigger wind slab avalanches on slopes below.

Persistent slab avalanches might fail 2 to 3 feet deep on weak sugary faceted snow or basal layer depth hoar. Yesterday, I triggered a large and resounding whumpf or audible collapse on a lower angled sunny slope at mid elevations in the Beaver Creek area, and I found very weak faceted snow from January the culprit... You might trigger dangerous persistent slab avalanches in some areas remotely, from a distance or worse, from below. Steep, recently drifted, rocky, outlying upper and mid elevation slopes with generally shallow and weak snow cover and recent wind loads are the most suspect. Whumpfing and deep cracking are red flags indicating potential persistent slab instability.

Mostly manageable loose dry and moist sluffs involving Saturday's storm snow are likely in steep terrain today. Triggered dry sluffs are possible on steep slopes in areas that picked up significant accumulations of powder on Saturday.. The danger of moist sluffs may increase in sunny terrain as the day warms up. Increasing cloud cover could trap the morning's heat and green housing will likely cause the fresh surface snow to become damp and more prone to avalanching.