Huntington Ravine has MODERATE and LOW avalanche danger. South, Odell's, and Central gullies have Moderate avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are unlikely and human triggered avalanches are possible. Use caution in steeper terrain. All other forecast areas have Low avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are very unlikely and human triggered avalanches are unlikely EXCEPT in isolated pockets. Normal caution is advised.

Over the past 12 hours the Summit has picked up another 1.4" (3.5cm) of new snow accompanied by W and NW winds that are currently blowing around 50 mph (80kph). This brings the 5 day Summit snowfall total to 9.1" (23cm). We are staying vigilant watching the intricate details pushing us back and forth between Low and Moderate this week. As we get nickeled and dimed with just enough each day to make our brains smoke we feel it's important to keep a focused caution while using the Mountain. When there is no snow or a lot of snow forecasting avalanches doesn't tap our full intellect. But when there is just enough to create "some" instabilities that aren't widespread the question that works the gray matter is exactly how much instability and where? Add no visibility and clouds that may or may not drop additional moisture on the mountain and the complexity increases rapidly. So this is what we are focusing on today. In Huntington any new snow is being loaded on mostly very hard slab that acted as bed surfaces for our last avalanche cycle. Both South and O'Dells have offered consistent traveling conditions supporting a boot well after punching through several inches. We feel new snow moving into these areas as well as Central will generate new slabs that will move to human triggered avalanches being possible today. New loading should not be substantial enough to choke the entire areas with new slab so there will likely be options to avoid these instabilities with good route finding skills. Areas posted at Low will also have some instability, but will be in the form of smaller isolated pockets. Tuckerman's ratings remain as they did yesterday as we are still most concerned about the Lip, Headwall and upper reaches of the Bowl. Generally I don't want to overstate our instabilities right now, but do want to impress that they do exist out there so keep at least one eye on a changing snowpack as you travel through your intended route. Do not only considered the small amount of precipitation from day to day, but also think about how our mountain's famous winds move it into the avalanche start zones of the E facing Ravines.

A brief snow shower may occur today as we move into the afternoon. As we move into darkness today snow is expected to pickup bringing us a few inches overnight before moving out of the area. The Christmas precipitation is expected to move in late stretching into Monday. The ugly word- "rain" keeps popping up. Lets keep our fingers crossed, however, it looks quite plausible. It's kind of like getting a sack of coal from old St. Nick.

THE LION HEAD SUMMER TRAIL IS 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 Sherburne Ski Trail has top to bottom coverage though it is quite thin in places. Expect rocks and abrupt waterbars along the way.

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.