Observation: Little Cottonwood Canyon

With today's cloud cover and cooler temperatures, I knew wet snow issues were likely not to be as much an issue today as over the past few days. My intention today was to look at solar aspects to see how thorough a cycle of wet snow activity they have undergone this past week, and if we can expect warm temperatures over the next several days to lead to additional wet avalanche activity. I was finding a 5-10 cm thick sun and temperature crusts on aspects facing west through south and east between 8,500 and 10,500, with dry snow underneath the crusts. Drainage channels were also visible on some aspects. There was plenty of evidence of wet-loose avalanches on solar aspects the past few days, and overall it appears we have gone through our cycle of wet activity on solar aspects. (This is not to say there won't be any wet avalanches on these aspects, but there will likely be fewer going forward.) I also think we may begin to see wet activity on some north aspects at the mid elevations as temperatures rise over this coming weekend.