The good news: Colorado is finally getting some snow.
The bad news: it's contributing to what avalanche experts expect to be the most dangerous conditions of the season.
"As we get more snow this week and a lot of wind, that is going to overload our very weak snowpack and make it easy for people to trigger avalanches," said Ethan Greene, the Director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC).
Many areas in Colorado's high country are approaching the highest danger level on the CAIC scale. Even though the heaviest of this week's snowfall is over, the risk to backcountry recreators will remain.
"What happens is after a storm like this moves through, we still have an elevated avalanche danger. It's not high anymore, but it's still very dangerous for people. We start to get some sunny days with fresh snow, and that's really when we start to see the most deadly avalanche accidents," said Greene.
Avalanches are more likely in areas with more than a foot of new snow - typically on steep slopes above the tree line. CAIC has received several reports of avalanches on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park and in the Never Summer Range.
Backcountry travelers should check avalanche forecasts before heading out and avoid risky terrain during periods of high danger.
So far, Colorado's avalanche season has been merciful. No avalanche-related deaths and just several injuries associated with slides. About 30 avalanches have been reported.
California just experienced one of the deadliest avalanches in state history. Eight skiers were killed in a slide near Lake Tahoe on Tuesday.
