What's that? A weak layer?

We ranged around sunny slopes east of Whitefish Mountain Resort to assess the wet snow avalanche hazard, as well as survey current snow surfaces. 

• Despite clear skies, only the top few inches of surface snow on steep, sunny, mid elevation slopes got wet. Wind and cool temperatures kept the surface snow cold and dry on most shaded low and mid elevation slopes. A thin suncrust (<1 cm) developed on some open slopes in forested areas by mid afternoon. 
• We found wet or refrozen wet snow on sunny upper elevation slopes to about 6600 feet. Caveat: we only traveled a few hundred feet higher. 
• Most of the natural rollerballs and point releases we saw seemed to have run yesterday, though we were out of terrain where you'd expect these by mid afternoon. 
• Ski cuts and turns on very steep slopes produced short-running sheets of wet debris that were maybe half a ski length wide and never entrained enough snow or ran far enough downslope to be dangerous. We saw some similar triggered and natural slides in the vicinity. 
• We saw the debris from one large natural wet loose avalanche on a steep, south-facing mid elevation slope. Details in avalanche tab.
• Cold nights with a few low clouds or clear skies have deposited 2-6 mm surface hoar on many shaded slopes, or formed small facets in the top few inches of the snowpack. This surface is something to watch to see if it remains intact before being buried. 
• Pics to follow

Given the shallow layer of wet snow at the snow surface and few signs of wet snow instability, we felt comfortable ski cutting and skiing steep, sunny slopes well into the afternoon.