Observation: Sunrise Hill

I was interested to see how the upper snowpack at mid-elevations handled the recent heat wave, and found moist to wet snow in the upper 70 cm (everything above the dust layer). Pouring some red dye on the snow revealed a barrier to water percolation 30 cm beneath the surface along an ice crust (picture below) and a few flow fingers, but did not seem to reach the mid-pack facets. As winter is expected to return this week and temperatures should continue to dip below freezing at night, the wet snow problem is decreasing.

A trace of damp dust on crust slightly improved riding quality. Snow got "grabby" around 1:00 PM from above freezing temps and greenhousing. Mid-elevations in this zone got a light re-freeze overnight; flat meadows were not supportable.