Here comes the sun

Monitoring for wet loose avalanche in the Southern Whitefish Range.  

• The mountains remained enveloped in stratus clouds most of the day. Clearing skies started spreading from south to north mid-afternoon.  The Swan Range caught some late afternoon solar through thinning clouds. The Whitefish Range appeared to be still in the clouds late this afternoon, except for the southern end of the range.
• We looked at some "frequent flier", low elevation road cuts near WMR that were getting direct sun this afternoon.  They produced only minor rollerballs.  Last night's freezing rain crust had softened, but there was an underlying sun crust from a few days ago that held enough integrity to keep sluffing potential confined to the top inch or two of moist surface snow.  
• Shaded aspects at low elevations held dry to slightly moist snow below the freezing rain crust. The crust was in tact.