Huntington Ravine has CONSIDERABLE and HIGH avalanche danger. The Escape Hatch has Considerable avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are possible and human triggered avalanches are probable. Be increasingly cautious in steeper terrain. All other areas in Huntington have HIGH avalanche danger. Natural and human triggered avalanches are likely. Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended.

Shake hands with winter boys and girls! This morning's 7:42 winter solstice has greeted the mountain with some unusual weather. As you could have guessed, unusual weather usually breeds unusual avalanche conditions! The main item of note to northern New Englanders right now is surely the cold. Lucky for us, there is one heck of an inversion hanging on and river valleys like Berlin are sitting far below the summit on the thermometer. At 7am Berlin was looking at -31C(-23F) while the summit enjoyed a balmy -10C(14F). While the temperature range is amazing, what has fascinated us even more is the snow! A total of 13.5cm(5.3in) has landed on the summit during the past 48 hours. This snow has been some of the light and fluffiest that we ever see with densities between 3-4%! This is the type of snow that even powder snobs dream of! Winds have only recently begun to pick up and all of those crystals are readying themselves for a wild ride. Winds are forecasted to move from the NW to the SW today and increase to 80-97kph(50-60mph). Winds as light as 11kph(7mph) have been relocating this snow at the summit and when you sneeze at Hermit Lake small drifts are formed! As the wind wraps around to the SW we will see most aspects become loaded with wind transported snow. These crystals are going to pack into windslab over the unconsolidated snow in wind sheltered locations. In many areas this combination is overlying the same slick crust that provided us with a spectacular display of avalanche activity one week ago. Snow deposits will likely increase in density as higher winds do a better job of beating up the crytals and packing them tightly together. This means higher density slabs sitting over less dense material. Not a good combination! Exactly how rapidly the wind shift occurs will dictate how much loading certain aspects receive. Unstable slabs are likely on a variety of slope aspects and angles!

The big problem today is how benign everything looks. Warmer temps as you climb and clear blue skies, what can be wrong? Don't be fooled--many accidents occur under bluebird skies. Blowing snow can be more dangerous than a foot of falling snow and instability can increase when the skiing looks best. Keep your eye on tomorrow's incoming weather as well. We're likely to see some rain come with the warmer temps late in the day. This rain could very well pull out any slabs that manage to hold on during today's changes.

THE LION HEAD SUMMER TRAIL IS NOW CLOSED DUE TO THE AVALANCHE PRONE SLOPES JUST BELOW TREELINE. THE LION HEAD WINTER ROUTE IS OPEN. Mountaineering skills and equipment are required for safe travel on this route.

The John Sherburne Ski Trail is improving with every bit of snow we receive. However, expect abrupt waterbars, lots of bushes and rocks hidden under new snow.

As always, this advisory is one more tool to help you make your own decisions in avalanche terrain. It should be used along with your own snow stability assessments, knowledge of safe travel techniques, skill in reading mountain weather's effect on the snowpack and avalanche rescue. To improve these skills take an avalanche course. We have all the avalanche courses offered in and around the Mt. Washington Valley this winter on our website, tuckerman.org.