Wind slabs formed primarily at the upper elevations during the east/northeast wind loading event Thursday night and early Friday, however on my field day Saturday in the Snowbasin backcountry we were finding pockets of hard wind drifts down to 8000'. Although they were largely unreactive, we were able to still find a few sensitive pockets. Many of these hard wind slabs are sitting on weak, low-density snowfall that fell earlier this past week, and some may still be reactive today. Additionally, today's winds will quickly create fresh wind slabs on all aspects at the mid and upper elevations, especially as winds increase mid-day. These drifts may form on top of weaker snow that currently sits on our snow surface, possibly making them particularly sensitive to a rider.

Although I am not expecting winds to get into low elevation terrain today, watch for changing conditions, especially as the terrain can funnel and channel winds well down into drainages.

Light snowfall is forecasted through much of the day, with the heaviest snowfall expected to begin around 2 pm. Pay careful attention to increasing snowfall rates as the new snow may quickly form sensitive soft slabs and shallow, long-running sluffing in the loose snow.