Cornices
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Unlikely
- Size
- 1
With clearing skies overnight and near to below freezing air temperatures, a strong overnight snow surface refreeze is expected to have occurred due to radiational cooling. As daytime warming progresses, areas of surface wet snow will form on sun exposed slopes. Increasing cloud cover today is not expected to be as thick as yesterday and therefore will not have as great of an impact on slowing the melting process during the mid day and afternoon hours. With the snowpack already subject to periods of rain and prolonged melt earlier this winter, free water drainage from the snowpack is well established. With little to no snow cover on the vast majority of SE-S-SW-W aspects, instability concerns are confined to highly localized areas on those aspects. E aspects continue to hold significant snow cover around the vast majority of the forecast area and will experience surface wet snow formation up to several inches deep by this afternoon. With free water drainage well established, wet snow instability is expected to be limited to human triggered roller balls and human triggered loose wet sluffs in steep terrain that require a push to set into motion. Loose wet avalanches large enough to bury or injure a person remain unlikely at this time.