Beaver Creek

Mostly moving through the new snow to get a sense for how it is behaving and how much snow there is outside of highway corridor where the weather stations area. We found conditions that aligned with those reported at the SNOTEL and ITD weather stations near Banner Summit. 

Collapsing and cracking were specific to wind-loaded areas, some of these appeared to involve slightly older, denser wind drifts that developed in the Monday/Tuesday time frame. Newer drifts were generally a bit softer.

We found 75-80cm of settled storm snow since Monday. This was generally rightside up, with a few minor density inversions/xtal type changes. At lower and in some middle elevation terrain this snow had fallen largely without wind. Exposed middle and all upper elevation terrain has been under the influence of significant winds since Monday. Cornices have grown very large in this zone, and will provide great triggers for larger avalanches when they are failing. 

Very brief sun breaks allowed for a tiny bit of surficial melting to occur today. This was occurring during <5 minute intervals of partial clearing. This is unlikely to produce a widespread issue, but is a good reminder that we are in March and when the sun comes out it will be packing some energy.

We found a similar dusty, graupel-rich layer to the one I discovered while shoveling my drive in Smiley on Friday morning. This was deposited on Thursday night around 1900, accompanying frontal passage. Given the weather, I suspect this layer is quite widespread.