Huntington Ravine is still under a General Avalanche Advisory. A General Advisory is issued when instabilities are isolated within the entire forecast area. However it's important to realize that avalanche activity may occur within these locations before the issuance of a 5-scale forecast. This is a critical fact to remember. Under a General Advisory you need to make your own avalanche stability assessments before venturing into any open slopes.

High pressure will once again dominate today as temperatures continue to increase under sunny skies. The summits should push close to 40 degrees F, although high winds will deny any true basking. Solar gain will occur in avalanche terrain today assisting with stabilization but shifting winds from the NW to the W at 50-70mph+ (80-110kph) will keep any real heat absorption to a minimum. The exception to this will be strong lee southern facing aspects. Another weather-maker is heading our way and once again Mount Washington is getting desperate to find its winter reputation of arctic tundra. Rain is forecasted to begin during the overnight and persist through Friday. Periods of mixed precipitation is anticipated, but temperatures above freezing will occur all the way to Washington's summit. These conditions will carry over into the weekend as record breaking temperatures are expected in certain areas around the State. We'll have more clarification tomorrow, but expect rain for the weekend with totals between .50-.75" (1.25-1.85cm). Rain will fall on some new slabs that have seen varying degrees of consolidation. Currently surface conditions are a mix of soft slab, "hard as steel" slab, and crust peppered with blue water ice and rock. In addition today's sun will affect some slope stability much greater than others because of the winds discussed earlier. All of this will generate a great degree of spatial variation, or difference in snow pack characteristics, across the Ravine as the onset of rain occurs tomorrow. We'll discuss more about that in Friday morning's advisory. In the mean time the bottom line for today is we continue to have some lingering stability issues in very strong lee areas, most notably in the Lip and Sluice. As you head south in the Bowl, wind scouring has made the stability issues more isolated so good route finding skills should keep you out of trouble there. However these isolated pockets do exist so pay attention as you travel from highly wind affected locations to softer slab.

Expect an elevated avalanche danger with the onset of rain and a danger of falling ice. Warm temperatures and heat from rainfall over 48-72 hours should weaken ice as we move through the weekend.

By now you should have refreshed your avalanche skills, installed some fresh high quality alkaline batteries in your avalanche beacon, and mastered its use. Don't forget your safe travel rules, techniques for assessing snow stability, and sign up for an avalanche course. Avalanche courses offered in the valley this winter are now on our website, tuckerman.org.