Soft Snow on Red Lake

Unsettled weather this morning with clouds and moderate to strong SW winds existed throughout most of the forecast region.  We found a very light dusting of new snow when we arrived at Red Lake Peak this morning.  Mostly clear overnight skies with radiational cooling provided an adequate refreeze of the snow surface.  The snow surface was soft when we arrived in the morning and remained supportable throughout our tour just after 12pm.  Partly cloudy skies along with the SW winds prolonged the soft snow conditions from getting too wet and deep on E-SE-S aspects and limited loose wet instabilities, even though solar radiation was strong at times.  Slopes that had direct SW wind exposure remained firm.