With last night's southwest winds, there are probably some fresh and sensitive wind slabs in exposed upper elevation terrain this morning. You could trigger a fresh wind slab avalanche on a steep drifted slope, especially in a terrain feature like a gully or scoop that has old faceted snow as a basal layer. Keep in mind that with such shallow snow cover, a ride in even a small avalanche will likely be fairly dangerous this weekend.

The danger of storm snow avalanches will rise significantly on steep slopes as heavy snow starts to pile up with today's storm at upper and mid elevations. Loose snow avalanches or sluffs are likely in steep terrain, and the danger of human triggered soft slabs will rise throughout the day. Watch for obvious signs of instability like fresh avalanche activity or cracking within the new snow....

The shallow old snow from the Halloween storms remained on upper elevation north facing slopes, and it has become very weak and faceted.... Today's storm will probably create a nice slab on some slopes that will overload this existing weak snow. Triggered soft slab avalanches releasing within the sugary old snow are possible, especially on smooth upper elevation slopes. The danger of persistent slabs will increase significantly during the day, and could rise to CONSIDERABLE in some areas by evening if we reach today's forecast snow amounts and the wind continues to drift it into avalanche starting zones. Persistent slab avalanches could be triggered remotely, from a distance or worse from below....