Central Mountains

 Colorado Avalanche Information Center
 This is Scott in the Colorado Avalanche Information Center at 2:30 pm,
 Saturday, March 5, 2005.

 DISCUSSION

 Low over southern CA/MX hasn't moved much today. There has been a
 pretty good band of clouds & showers across the southern mountains
 today, maybe an inch new so far. Models slowly move the low further
 into MX as the week progresses, & CO will then come under strong NW
 flow as a high amplitude ridge builds over the west coast for the
 early part of next week. That could bring some snow to N&C mtns, stay
 tuned. The forecast details:
 
 Saturday night: Partly cloudy, afternoon snow showers possible. Winds
 S/5-10. Lows 10-20.
 
 Sunday: Partly cloudy, snow showers possible. Winds SW/5-10. Highs
 23-33. Lows 12-22.

 Monday: Partly cloudy. Winds W/5-15, Gs 20s. Highs 20-30.

 SNOWPACK

 Avalanche activity has become sporadic, but releases are still
 occurring. Our Summit CO observer triggered a small hard slab on a N
 aspect above TL today, it was on a small test slope & failed 2 feet
 thick, and was 100 ft wide. This was up near Janet's Cabin. A snowpit
 from above Montezuma showed a snowpack under a good deal of tension.

 Shears were of high quality, & the pit profile showed some potential
 for deep slab instability. The Instability seems to be concentrated
 near and above TL on aspects that remain cold (NW-NE) and/or got a
 fresh layer of slab from blowing snow earlier this week (NE-SE).

 Therefore, I am going to keep those pockets of CONSIDERABLE in these
 areas, and drop the pockets on S-W aspects. Also warm temperatures
 below TL have led to settlement and strengthening, and there has been
 no activity below TL recently. So I am trending toward LOW below TL.

 The BC danger ratings
 
 C mtns overall MODERATE near and above TL, with pockets of
 CONSIDERABLE on NW-E aspects. Below TL, LOW. Crested Butte zone
 MODERATE overall

 toepfer