The National Weather Service Forecasts-

TODAY...LOCALLY WINDY...SNOW. AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW NEAR DOWNTOWN THIS MORNING. SNOW ACCUMULATION 3 TO 5 INCHES. HIGHS AROUND 32. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 TO 20 MPH. NEAR DOWNTOWN JUNEAU AND DOUGLAS...NORTHEAST WIND 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 40 MPH DECREASING TO 10 TO 20 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.

TONIGHT...SNOW DIMINISHING TO SNOW SHOWERS IN THE EVENING. SNOW ACCUMULATION TO 2 INCHES...MAINLY IN THE EARLY EVENING. STORM TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 3 TO 7 INCHES. LOWS AROUND 25. EAST WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.

SATURDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS IN THE MORNING. SCATTERED SNOW AND RAIN SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS AROUND 34. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 MPH.

Temperatures continue to remain cool.

Winds at the Mt Roberts site far exceeded the Eaglecrest Summit for the last 3 days.

While Eaglecrest saw winds just up to the 20's Mt Roberts Tram saw winds in the 30's and gusting into the 40's for quite some time. Stronger winds were also present at ridgetop and near summit.

last week we had some old wind crusts with near surface facets beneath them. Surface hoar in shaded areas and areas of suncrust on south facing slopes along the channel.

These got the recent windslab laid down on top of them.

Today we are seeing new snow loading on these previously weak layers as well as windloading to go with the new snow.

While active loading is present today on previously active weak layers avalanche danger will remain Considerable.

Natural avalanches are still possible.

As this new snow builds up Human triggereed avalanches will become more and more likely. Just remember there is already weakness in the snowpack and even without the new snow human triggered avalanches are still probable in places.

Use your spider senses... choose good lines, avoid avalanche prone areas until this new snow subsides and has time to bond.

Please continue to avoid the Flume and Perseverence Trails today. Please do not park and walk along Thane Road.

Enjoy the new snow and have a great day just be sure to use good judgement and conservative route finding on a day like today.

Terrain Trap:

What will happen if it slides? The consequence of an avalanche is one of the most important factors in judging the danger of avalanche terrain. Bad consequences include trees (the ?giant bread slicer?) a large cliff or a terrain trap. A terrain trap is a sharply concave part of the runout such as a gully, an abrupt transition or a crevasse where avalanche debris will pile up deeply. Since shoveling takes such a long time, deep burials have a very low chance of survival. Very few victims live from burials deeper than about 5 feet. Even a small avalanche off the side of a gully can have very deadly consequences.