Under clear skies the overnight mountain temperatures dropped into the teens °F at the mid and upper elevations leading to a solid re-freeze of the snow surface. Winds are from the northerly direction blowing 5-10 mph across the upper elevations. Today will be a beautiful sunny day with temperatures rising into the 30's & 40's at 8,500'. By the afternoon the 10,000' temperatures will rise into the mid to upper 20's °F. Winds will be from the northerly direction and they will remain calm throughout the day.
Yesterday's sun and warm temperatures cooked many if not all the steep sunlit slopes. The snow became wet and soggy on all aspects below about 7,500' by late afternoon. This morning those aspects and elevations will have a supportable crust that will quickly soften by mid morning. The northwest, north and northeast facing slopes above about 8,500' in elevation has excellent dry cold powder snow.
Yesterday, the mountains went through a natural wet loose avalanche cycle beginning about 11:00 am. Most of these slides were small, starting at and point and fanning out 50' feet wide before stopping in the lower angled terrain. However, one wet loose avalanche was triggered off Mt. Superior from skiers descended late in the day. The wet debris ran for 1,500' vertical feet down the slope and left a large enough debris pile to bury a human. There were two reports of skiers getting tangled up in small loose wet avalanches yesterday taking very short rides with no injuries.
Riders also triggered a few new snow, shallow soft slab avalanches that were 50-150' wide and roughly 8-10" deep. These new snow slides were in the steepest northerly facing terrain.
