Small snow amounts keep adding up in the Vail/Summit zone. On Sunday light snow brought enough snow to freshen up the surface, but not enough to create a big spike in avalanche danger. During the event the winds were fairly light, but came from many directions. Look for loading in unusual places today. We are also going to get some sunshine today and on Tuesday. As the sun hits cold snow layers, shallow natural avalanches are possible. Remember that just like a winter traveler, small avalanches can trigger slides in deeper layers if they hit the right spot.

There were a few small natural avalanches reported on Sunday. They were shallow slabs that broke below the new snow or in wind-loaded areas. On Saturday there was a natural avalanche reported on the east end of the Gore range. The slide was 2-3' deep and over 600' wide. It released on an east-northeast aspect that is near treeline. The snowpack remains quite weak throughout the zone. Just a little wind and snow can be enough to trigger a good sized slides. The snowpack remains shallow and complex. The chances of triggering a deep slab avalanche are decreasing, but the snow near the ground is still pretty weak and human triggered avalanches remain possible to probable. The most likely place to trigger an avalanche is on a steep slope that is near treeline and facing north through east and around to the south. 

Continue to practice safe travel procedures, such as traveling one at a time and limiting your exposure to steep open slopes.

Colorado is sandwiched between a long-wave trough descending into the mid-west from Canada and a jet streak that is working its way through northern Mexico. Today the weak low-pressure system that brought us light winds and snow over the last 36 hours will move off to the east and merge with the northern trough. The flow will remain light in most areas and turn to the north and northwest in the Northern and Central Mountains and to the southwest in the Southern Mountains. Cold air will move into the Front Range, but probably won't make it into the Steamboat or Vail/Summit zones. The atmosphere over Colorado will slowly dry out over the next two days. Cloud cover will slowly decrease though the day and snow showers will linger longest in Sangre de Cristo and Front Range zones. A weak ridge of high pressure will build over Colorado on Tuesday but will quickly be replaced by an advancing low-pressure trough towards the end of the week.