The National Weather Service Forecasts-

TODAY...PARTLY SUNNY. PATCHY FOG IN THE MORNING. HIGHS AROUND
38. LIGHT WINDS BECOMING NORTHWEST 10 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.

TONIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 28. NORTHEAST WIND 10 MPH IN THE EVENING BECOMING LIGHT AND VARIABLE.

THURSDAY...CLOUDY. SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE MORNING...THEN CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS AROUND 37. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 MPH.

Temperatures remained cool yesterday. This mornings temps are 28f at the Mt Roberts Tram and 19 at Eaglecrest.

Winds have remained calm for the most part yesterday into today.

Our two day rain total is only at the last 14mm from our 30mm storm cycle. This left nearly 10\" of new snow at the Tram Summit and in protected areas.

This snowpack has now had a little time to settle in place and bond better.

If we see much diurnal fluctuation today and mid day warming going over freezing in our mountain enviroments. Especially around trees and rocks that help take in the heat of the sun. Look to see point release avalanches as the snow releives itself off of steep open slopes, rock bands, cliffs, trees. As it comes down mountain look to see them fan out to gather additional mass.

Most slides should they occur would be smaller in nature.

Point Relsease - Loose Snow Avalanches - Sluffs:

Loose snow sliding down a mountainside is called a loose snow avalanche. Small loose snow avalanches are called Sluffs.

Loose snow avalanches usually start from a point and fan outward as they descend, and because of this they are also called ?point releases.? Very few people are killed by loose snow avalanches because they tend to be small and they tend to fracture beneath you as you cross a slope instead of above you as slab avalanches often do. The avalanche culture tends to minimize the danger of loose snow avalanches, sometimes calling them \"harmless sluffs.\" But, of course, this is not always the case. Houses have been completely destroyed by \"harmless sluffs,\" and if caught in one, it can easily take the victim over cliffs, into crevasses or bury them deeply in a terrain trap such as a gully. Most of the people killed in sluffs are climbers who are caught in naturally-triggered sluffs that descend from above--especially in wet or springtime conditions.

Sluffs can actually be a sign of stability within the deeper snow when new snow sluffs down without triggering deeper slabs. Sluffs are usually easy to deal with but slabs are definitely not.