Underneath the newest snow you will find stubborn slabs of wind-drifted snow on upper-elevation slopes and terrain features. These drifts could be 1'-3' deep and break up to 150' wide. Watch for and avoid signs of wind-drifted snow; such as pillow-shaped deposits and rounded smooth areas of snow. Cracking in new wind-drifted snow is a sign that things are unstable and steeper slopes should be avoided.

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Cornices are signs of wind loading leeward features. Any cornice failure could trigger an avalanche on the slope below and today I would give these new cornices some space as they may break further back from the ridgelines than you expect.

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In some areas we did see weak surface snow prior to yesterday's wind event on steep northerly facing terrain. There will be isolated areas out of the wind zone where the new snow will not have bonded particularly well. Have an escape plan if loose surface snow picks up more speed as it can be more than enough mass to carry you off your feet. Any new wind-drifted snow on weak surface snow will be perched precariously waiting for an additional load before it cascades downslope. This could be more wind, snow, or a human trigger.

On east-southeast facing slopes at high and mid elevations there is a persistent weak layer (PWL) of facets just above a crust that was buried by new snow on or around February 14. Warm weather and clear skies over the last three days have decreased the likelihood of triggering an avalanche on this layer, and the facets will continue to heal. This problem is not on every slope and each slope facing east-southeast should be assessed individually before committing to terrain over 30° in steepness. New snow and wind on top of this layer may make it more likely to fail and any avalanches on this layer will be 2'-3' deep and a couple 100' wide.

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