TODAY...SNOW. SNOW ACCUMULATION 1 TO 4 INCHES. HIGHS AROUND 31. NORTH WIND 10 TO 20 MPH.

TONIGHT...SNOW...DIMINISHING LATE. SNOW ACCUMULATION 2 TO 4 INCHES. LOWS AROUND 25. WEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

MONDAY...SNOW LIKELY. SNOW ACCUMULATION AROUND 1 INCH. HIGHS AROUND 31. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 MPH.

It was good that the snowpack had a chance to settle out a bit and gain stability. We are now begining to add snow again, it is forecast to be moderate amounts without a lot of wind.

However pay attention to what is actually happening out there. Three of the areas around us have high wind or winter storm warnings over the next 24hrs. If you see snowfalls higher than expected or high winds the avalanche danger will go up accordingly.

Avalanche Danger is MODERATE today: Natural avalanches are unlikely, but there remains a lot of relatively recent dry snow on top of the snowpack and any slide has the potential to step down into a destructive avalanche that may come near or reach developed areas.

In the Urban Zones use caution under steep terrain and continute to limit your time in avalanche terrain.

Human triggered avalanches will become more likely with each additional inch of snow that falls, and remember, underneath that we still have windloaded areas.

If traveling in the backcountry be prepared for human triggered wind slabs in the storm layer from the last cycle as well as new snow. Use caution in steeper areas.

UPSIDE-DOWN STORM:

Here in South East Alaska we talk alot about getting an upside-down storm or having an upside-down snowpack.

A lot of storms deposit new snow with denser snow on the bottom and lighter snow on top?just the way we like it. This is because most snow comes from cold fonts, which usually start out warm and windy but end up cold and calm.

Here we often get warmer storm fronts running into cold arctic air from the interior. Sometimes these snowstorms deposit denser, stiffer snow on top of softer, fluffier snow. We call this ?upside down? snow. We often call it ?slabby? or ?punchy? meaning that you punch through the surface slab into the softer snow below, making for difficult riding and trail breaking conditions.

It also means that we need to carefully monitor avalanche conditions within the new snow because?by definition?a denser slab has been recently deposited on top of a weaker layer, which should make anyone?s avalanche antennae stand at attention. Most instabilities within upside-down snow stabilize within a day or two.

The kind of weather conditions that often produce upside-down snow include warm fronts, storms in which the wind blows harder at the end of the storm than the beginning, or storms that end with an unstable airmass, which can precipitate a lot of graupel within instability showers.

The best thing to do when we start talking about upside-down snow is wait a a day or so. This kind of snowpack tends to settle out quickly with unstable slopes either falling off the mountain on their own, or becoming stronger as they get a chance to bond together.