TODAY ... MOSTLY CLOUDY. SCATTERED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS IN THE
AFTERNOON. HIGHS AROUND 42. NORTHEAST WIND 5 MPH BECOMING SOUTHWEST TO 10 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.

TONIGHT ... MOSTLY CLOUDY. ISOLATED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS IN THE EVENING. LOWS AROUND 31. LIGHT WINDS BECOMING EAST TO 10 MPH LATE.

WEDNESDAY ... MOSTLY CLOUDY. CHANCE OF RAIN. HIGHS AROUND 41.
NORTHEAST WIND 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTHEAST IN THE AFTERNOON.

No new precip in the last 24hrs but there is some coming ... not enough to raise our hazard much over the next 24hrs but on Thursday that might change. Winds have shifted to the WSW, but overall have been the lightest we've seen in over a week. Temps yesterday hit just over 6c at the tram before dropping back down below freezing last night and are currently -2c.

The main avalanche problems today are small wet slides and new storm/wind slab over a hard bed surface ... with a forecast for good cloud cover, and minimal snowfall, these problems lack significant triggers making hazard low.

If it is another warm, sunny, day the hazard will go up accordingly. The same is true if we start to see large amounts of Precip.

Urban avalanche danger is LOW today: Generally safe avalanche conditions. Watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features. Natural and human-triggered avalanches unlikely. Small avalanches in isolated areas or extreme terrain. Normal caution is advised.

Backcountry travel is another matter. It should be done with caution, and remember that avalanches on the mid-February weak layer would be large and destructive. Human triggering is still possible in some areas, so choose well supported terrain and consider the consequences of an avalanche before committing to a route.

METEOROLOGY

Really all of this \"forecasting\" stuff has to do with weather. The NWS Juneau office does a great job, but sometimes they don't tell you what you really want to know, especially in the forecast discussion. They just give you signs of what they are seeing, rather than definitive answers to questions like; \"How much snow will the mountains get?\"

This link from the University of Illinois offers some of the most comprehensive free web-based instructional modules I've found. It utilizes multimedia technology and the dynamic capabilities of the web:

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/%28Gh%29/guides/mtr/home.rxml

It won't make you a better forecaster than the NWS office, but it will help you understand their forecasts, and help you better forecast your own answers to questions they don't always give you.