The National Weather Service Forecasts-

TODAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. SLIGHT CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW IN THE
MORNING. HIGHS AROUND 33. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 TO 20 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTH IN THE AFTERNOON.

TONIGHT...CLOUDY. LOWS 26 TO 32. NORTHEAST WIND 5 TO 15 MPH.

SUNDAY...RAIN LIKELY. HIGHS AROUND 39. EAST WIND 10 MPH.

The day before yesterday we had temperatures to abov freezing on our mountain summits. This has settled and consolidated the snow considerably.

With no new snow in the last 24 hours and no snow significant precipitation in the forecast avalanche danger is low and will remain that way for the next 24 hours.

As we start to pickup precip again tomorrow avalanche danger will begin to rise once again.

To learn mor about making your own assesments in the snowpack you need to learn how to do stability assesments.

Stability Test:

Any of dozens of different tests to determine the stability of the snow.

Stability tests might include:

? Jump on test slopes (small slopes) to see how they behave

? Kick or saw off a piece of cornice and let it bounce down the slope

? Perform a slope cut

? Probe with your ski pole as you travel

? Dig down with your hand to see how well the snow is bonded to the underlying layers

? Wait for other people to jump into the slope before you

? Dig one or more snow pits in representative locations

Snowpit tests:

Most of the time we can gather enough information about the snowpack without ever taking out the dreaded shovel. But sometimes the only way to get good information about deeper weak-layers is to grease up the elbows and do some honest work for a change. I personally feel naked unless I dig at least one snowpit in a representative location to at least get the general picture of what?s going on in the snowpack.

Tomorrow I will discuss how to dig snowpits... Stay Tuned!