Huntington Ravine has Moderate avalanche danger today. Natural avalanches are unlikely and human triggered avalanches are possible. Unstable slabs are possible in steep terrain. Use caution in steep terrain.

Yesterday's clipper lost some of it steam as it rolled into town but did manage to squeeze out around an inch of snow on the mountain. Once again, winds cranked up and exceeded 100 mph out of the west but many areas are not showing signs of significant wind effect on the newer slabs. This leaves us with some "heads up" Moderate conditions with some locations representing the upper end of the Moderate rating. These include the Bowl in Tuckerman and Central and Pinnacle Gullies in Huntington. Overall, the Ravines don't look much different than they did yesterday morning. We have plenty of old surface showing in the Fan and in the lower parts of Hillman's Highway, the Lower Snowfields and Left Gully. This surface is your friend when it comes to safe travel and route finding. That is assuming you have crampons and an ice axe as it resembles alpine ice. In areas where this surface isn't showing you can expect some touchy wind slabs that have developed over the past few days. These slabs have formed from a variety of systems that have come through over the past week, with the most notable recent snowfall occurring last Friday. These have added up to 5.4" (13.8 cm) on the Summit and 7.4" (18.8 cm) at Hermit Lake from Friday's storm until now. Winds from the SW to the NW have been working this snow into the Ravines and leave us with the current landscape that has the mix of old surface and new slabs. Keep in mind that the snow totals are only what has fallen out of the atmosphere, not the amount that has collected in lee areas. If you plan on traveling in avalanche terrain today you should choose your route wisely. Avoid large areas of new slab, find a route that has old surface to climb on and if you must go through the slabs, avoid being out in the middle of them.

Snow showers are possible in the mountains today. There isn't a lot of moisture so we aren't expecting significant accumulations. Definitely keep your eye on the weather and snowfall amounts and act accordingly. Upslope events can often give us a bonus amount of snow. Snow showers will pick up as another clipper type system passes through tonight and may last into tomorrow. It looks like these nickel and dime events will be all we have to look forward to for a while as no major storms are in the forecast.

The new snow is trying to cover up the old hard surface but it is still poking through in places. Until it has vanished you will need crampons, an ice axe and solid self arrest skills to travel safely in steep terrain. This includes travel on the Lion Head Winter Route. The Sherburne Ski Trail is open with good coverage from top to bottom.