On Sunday it will again be possible to trigger a Wet Loose avalanche on the sunniest slopes, particularly on lower elevation South slopes that may not get a hard refreeze overnight. Overall the likelihood of these avalanches as well as their size will be decreased from Saturday when temperatures were much warmer.
With a cold front forecast for Sunday afternoon the threat of Wet Loose avalanches will be much less than it has been. They will continue to be possible on the sunniest and most sheltered slopes, particularly if the snow surface does not refreeze overnight. Any Wet Loose avalanches will likely be small.
Very warm temperatures and sunny skies on Friday and Saturday mean that most of our terrain has been in a freeze thaw cycle. On Saturday our Moon Mountain weather station reached 49 F. This pattern will be interrupted tomorrow afternoon as a cold front pushes through the OR Cascades, bringing with it particularly Strong winds from the West. On Sunday these winds will do more to effect travel conditions than they will create any avalanche hazard as there can't be mush soft snow left out there on West slopes.
As mentioned avalanche hazard will be significantly decreased on Sunday with lower daytime highs and a shorter period of warming. Looking at a sunny morning and overnight low temperatures that might not dip much below or even reach freezing, mean that some South slopes will see enough melting to keep Wet Loose avalanches on the problem list.
I'll likely continue to give Cornices an increased safety margin particularly if we don't see an overnight refreeze.
