Rapidly rising temperatures and strong direct sunlight will make the snow unstable on the sunny aspects today. Do not overstay your welcome in steep, sunlit, sustained terrain. If you start noticing the snow surface becoming damp or wet and/or seeing roller balls cascading down, it's time to get out of there. Both human triggered, and natural avalanches will be likely in steep southerly facing terrain today. These avalanches could be large enough to catch, carry and bury a person. If you're exiting out a drainage/canyon bottom late in the day, remember that low elevations (below 8,000') can also be wet and unstable.

As our winter snowpack sees its first real day of warming, be aware of what's above you. Roofs (roof-a-lanches) with winter snowpacks and other hanging snow on structures will likely fall/slide naturally today.

The list of human-triggered avalanches should be enough to convince us that the new snow can avalanche. These new snow avalanches will be soft storm slabs roughly 10-18 inches deep and up to 125' wide. Hopefully, these storm snow instabilities will settle quickly, but for today I would keep this problem in mind if riding in steeper terrain.

Our deep slab avalanches, while becoming increasingly stubborn, can roar back to life with any additional stress, i.e., rapid warming, heavy snowfall, strong winds, etc. Cornices may also be a good trigger for these larger avalanches. We haven't heard of any avalanches into this old layering 3-6' deep for a week or so, but they very much remain central to my route selection. These deeper slabs exist on west to north to southeast facing slopes at the mid and upper elevations. We are more likely to trigger these along the Cottonwoods periphery or in steep, thin, rocky terrain.