This avalanche advisory is provided through a partnership between the Tahoe National Forest and the Sierra Avalanche Center. This advisory covers the Central Sierra Nevada Mountains between Yuba Pass on the north and Ebbetts Pass on the south. Click here for a map of the forecast area. This advisory applies only to backcountry areas outside established ski area boundaries. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur. This advisory expires 24 hours after the posted time unless otherwise noted. The information in this advisory is provided by the USDA Forest Service who is solely responsible for its content.

The high-pressure ridge over the forecast area should bring warmer temperatures and more sunshine to the region today. The forecast calls for high temperatures of 38-45 degrees F. above 7000' today. The winds started to decrease last night and should continue to weaken during the day today. By tonight more clouds should start to move over the forecast area due to a low-pressure off the Canadian coast. The forecast calls for little to no precipitation from these clouds.

Observations:

Yesterday, observations from Waterhouse Peak, the south side of Carson Pass, and the Donner Summit area showed shallow (3-6 inches), hard wind-slabs near ridgelines on wind-loaded, N-NE facing slopes near and above treeline. Some human-triggered cracks did occur on a few isolated wind-loaded test slopes on Waterhouse Peak and in the Donner Summit area. However, most of these wind-slabs did not react to the additional weight of a person on top of them. Other observations and snowpit tests in these areas showed a mostly stable snowpack. A sometimes-breakable, sometimes-supportable crust existed on the snow surface up to 8200' on all aspects in these areas. On the southerly aspects this crust persisted up to 9000' on Waterhouse Peak. By mid-day enough melting had occurred for a skier to release some small roller-balls on the lower elevation sun-exposed slopes in the Donner Summit area. Soft, unconsolidated snow remained on the sheltered N-NE aspects above 8200'. A mix of soft snow and hard wind-packed snow existed on exposed N-NE-E aspects above treeline.

Avalanche Concerns:

With daytime highs expected to climb 7-13 degrees higher today than yesterday and more prolonged sunshine, instabilities that form due to daytime warming will comprise the primary avalanche concern today. Most of these wet-snow instabilities should take the form of roller-balls and point-release slides. These slides could entrain enough snow to push a person off course and into trouble. These instabilities will mostly likely exist on sun-exposed SE-S-SW-W aspects below 9000'. Other avalanche activity like wind-slab failure or wet-slab avalanches will remain unlikely but not impossible today. Use normal caution when traveling in the backcountry.

The bottom line:

This morning the avalanche danger is LOW for all elevations and aspects. Pockets of MODERATE danger may form on sun-exposed SE-S-SW-W aspects steeper than 35 degrees due to daytime warming today. Use normal caution when traveling in the backcountry.

Andy Anderson - Avalanche Forecaster, Tahoe National Forest

Weather Observations from along the Sierra Crest between 8200 ft and 8800 ft:

0600 temperature:	20 deg. F.
Max. temperature in the last 24 hours:	31 deg. F.
Average wind direction during the last 24 hours:	West southwest
Average wind speed during the last 24 hours:	30-40 mph
Maximum wind gust in the last 24 hours:	66 mph
New snowfall in the last 24 hours:	O inches
Total snow depth:	70-108 inches

Two-Day Mountain Weather Forecast - Produced in partnership with the Reno NWS

For 7000-8000 ft:
	Saturday:	Saturday Night:	Sunday:
Weather:	Mostly cloudy this morning becoming mostly sunny this afternoon.	Partly cloudy becoming mostly cloudy.	Mostly cloudy
Temperatures:	38-45 deg. F.	25-31 deg. F.	38-45 deg. F.
Wind direction:	Southwest	Variable	Southwest
Wind speed:	up to 10 mph	Light	up to 10 mph
Expected snowfall:	O in.	O in.	O in.
For 8000-9000 ft:
	Saturday:	Saturday Night:	Sunday:
Weather:	Mostly cloudy this morning becoming mostly sunny this afternoon.	Partly cloudy becoming mostly cloudy.	Mostly cloudy
Temperatures:	38-44 deg. F.	23-30 deg. F.	38-44 deg. F.
Wind direction:	Southwest	West shifting to the southwest after midnight	West
Wind speed:	10 mph with gusts to 25 mph	10 mph with gusts to 25 mph after midnight	10-15 mph with gusts to 35 mph
Expected snowfall:	O in.	O in.	O in.