Huntington Ravine has Considerable and Moderate avalanche danger. South Gully, O'Dell, Pinnacle and Central have Considerable avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are possible and human triggered avalanches are probable. Be increasingly cautious in steeper terrain. Yale, Damnation and North Gullies have Moderate avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are unlikely and human triggered avalanches are possible. Use caution in steeper terrain. The Escape Hatch is not posted due to a lack of snow.

Finally, a storm. As I am sure you are aware by now we are expecting snow in the mountains all day today and into tonight with storm totals expected between 6 and 10" (15 to 25 cm). The storm is setting up to give us a nice avalanche cycle and you should expect increasing instability from now through tomorrow. As I type, snow is falling at Hermit Lake and the winds are light out of the SSW on the Summit. The main stability concerns today will be in the afternoon hours when the winds increase to 40 to 50 mph (65 to 80 kph) out of the SSW. This will begin loading the new snow into the Ravines, particularly onto NE aspects bringing many areas into their Considerable rating with natural avalanche activity being possible. A shot of warmer air will move in around 4 pm and may result in a period of sleet in higher terrain that could last into the early evening. Temperatures will fall overnight and winds will be 40 to 60 mph (65 to 96 kph) with higher gusts out of the west. As colder air moves in, sleet will change back to snow and the cooling temperatures will allow for lighter density snow overnight. By tomorrow temperatures will be around 0 F (-18 C) and will continue to fall through the day to around -15 F (-26 C) by the evening. Winds tomorrow will be out of the NW 50 to 70 mph (80 to 112 kph) with higher gusts. This an ideal scenario for natural avalanche activity. Yesterday light snow fell on the mountain and was blown into avalanche terrain creating some soft slab conditions while the crust remained exposed in other areas. This crust makes an ideal bed surface for the slabs that will be developing during this storm.

Today is the first day we have issued a 5-Scale avalanche advisory for Huntington Ravine and Hillman's Highway. This is due to the weather maker discussed above. It is important to realize that there is a lot of variability in coverage within our advisory areas. One example is South Gully, which has potential for activity in its start zone but is pretty bushy otherwise. Other gullies in Huntington have bed surfaces but they are not well developed avalanche paths as of yet. I do think this storm has the potential to change the look of many of our forecast areas over the next two days and that avalanche activity could occur in areas where there is little potential right now.

Regarding the Lion Head Trail, we are currently using the Summer Trail, and will continue to do so until snow cover warrants the change over to the Winter Route. The Summer Route crosses an avalanche prone slope that has not developed as of yet. The Winter Route is not built for travel without adequate snow cover, so although we are in winter, please help keep the Winter Route in good shape by using the Summer Trail.