Strong southerly winds picked up last night around 9:00 pm and continue to blow with speeds of 15-25 mph gusting into the 30's and 40's at upper elevations. This will certainly create a fresh batch of new wind drifts and slabs across the mid and upper elevations. Winds typically load snow on leeward slopes, gullies, bowls, and mid slope break-overs. Shooting cracks along with thick upside down snow are red flags and shouldn't be ignored. Look for and avoid any steep slope that looks like it's been effected from the wind. Human triggered avalanches are possible.

With no overnight re-freeze of the snow the mid and lower elevations will remain damp, wet and soggy. Wet loose avalanches will be possible in any steep terrain. To complicate the issue we are expecting the rain/snow line to be around 8,000'-9,000' feet in elevation today and into this evening. Anytime we have rain falling on dry snow it instantly spikes the avalanche danger and wet loose sluffs will be instantaneous. Seek out lower angled terrain and avoid run-out zones if for some reason we see heavy rain on snow today.