Central Sierra Nevada

Cloud cover should limit snow surface melt today in areas that are typically sun exposed, but may allow for wet snow to form in areas that are typically shaded. Watch for changes in conditions that lead to surface wet snow development. New rollerballs, pinwheels, or wet loose avalanches are indications of potential instability.

Normal caution

Thick cloud cover began building over the forecast area very early this morning. There was a long enough period of clear skies prior to the arrival of cloud cover that a decent refreeze of wet surface snow from yesterday is expected to have occurred. Very little snow surface melt is expected today on what are typically sun exposed slopes. It is not impossible that warm cloudy conditions today could create snow surface wetting on northerly aspects. If this is the case, rollerballs, pinwheels, and/or loose wet avalanches may occur.

Pay attention to changes today. If northerly aspects are warming or the sun comes out more than expected, pause and reevaluate for developing surface wet snow instability.

Recent Observations

• Rain and wet snow on Tuesday created supportable to breakable crust in many areas, especially below 8,600' or so.
• Snowmelt on SE-S-SW aspects has exposed bare ground in many areas. Over snow travel options are limited on these aspects.
• A layer of old near-surface facets was buried on Feb 14 and is now around a foot below the snow surface on some NW-N-NE aspects. While there appear to be isolated pockets in well-shaded areas where this layer may still be able to collapse and propagate, weak layer strength continues to increase in the majority of areas. With a new snow loading event expected on Saturday, we are continuing to monitor this layer.