TODAY ... SUNNY. HIGHS 42 TO 48. NORTHEAST WIND 10 TO 20 MPH NEAR INTERIOR PASSES. OTHERWISE...LIGHT WINDS BECOMING WEST 10 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.

TONIGHT ... CLEAR. LOWS 18 TO 28 ... RANGING TO AROUND 14 IN WIND SHELTERED AREAS. NORTHEAST WIND 15 TO 25 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS NEAR DOWNTOWN JUNEAU AND INTERIOR PASSES. OTHERWISE ... NORTHEAST WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.

FRIDAY ... SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 34. NORTHEAST WIND 5 TO 15 MPH. NEAR INTERIOR PASSES AND DOWNTOWN JUNEAU...NORTHEAST WIND 15 TO 25 MPH.

More sunny mild weather in store for us. The winds at ridgetop level did pick back up around 5pm yesterday, but not much snow is left to transport in the alpine anymore. Temps warmed up to about 3c - 5c above freezing at the tram and will stay there through the forecast period.

This is allowing the snowpack to continue settling and bonding just a little bit more each day. Hazard would have dropped to Low except for the chance of warm, wet, point releases above the Flume and Perseverance area which still have the potential to step down into either wind slabs or the faceted layer just above the big Melt-Freeze Crust.

So, the hazard is MODERATE today: Natural avalanches unlikely; human-triggered avalanches possible. Use caution in or under steeper terrain and in avalanche zones. Heightened avalanche conditions on specific terrain features. Evaluate snow and terrain carefully; identify features of concern.

POINT RELEASE:

Loose snow sliding down a mountainside is called a loose snow avalanche. Small loose snow avalanches are called Sluffs.

Loose snow avalanches usually start from a point and fan outward as they descend, and because of this they are also called ?point releases.? Very few people are killed by loose snow avalanches because they tend to be small and they tend to fracture beneath you as you cross a slope instead of above you as slab avalanches often do.

The avalanche culture tends to minimize the danger of loose snow avalanches, sometimes calling them \"harmless sluffs.\" But, of course, this is not always the case. Houses have been completely destroyed by \"harmless sluffs,\" and if caught in one, it can easily take the victim over cliffs, into crevasses or bury them deeply in a terrain trap such as a gully. Most of the people killed in sluffs are climbers who are caught in naturally-triggered sluffs that descend from above--especially in wet or springtime conditions.

Sluffs can actually be a sign of stability within the deeper snowpack when new snow sluffs down without triggering deeper slabs.