Quick report
Another relatively warm and wet day in the mountains. Weather from recent week has saturated most of the snowpack below 7500' (and possibly higher). 01/01 PWL (responsible for all of the avalanche activity in January) did not fail in snow pit tests today. Slab of very dense snow now makes up the majority of the snowpack. Multiple rain crusts within upper 12-18" did not show much propagation potential today. Recent melt freeze crusts were still moist under 3-5" new snow below 7500'. Above 7500', crusts were firmer, especially on steeper solar aspects. Above 8000', new snow was lighter and showed the potential to create very small sluffs.
No signs of instability noted today.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- 4500
- Recent Snowfall
- 8-10
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Snowing lightly (S-1) for most of the day. Some periods of more moderate snowfall (S1) off and on, mostly in the afternoon. Winds were very light out of the NW. Temperatures were warm, snow was not accumulating much below 6500'.
Snowpack
We dug two different pits today. One was on a SE aspect around 7100', HS 105 cm. Snowpack appeared to have been fully saturated from recent rain and warm temperatures. CT 22 SC, 95 cm down, old November facets. ECTX. The other pit was on a NE aspect around 7400', HS 160 cm. Again, snowpack appeared to have been saturated at least one meter down. CT 15,17 RP, ECTN 22, 50 cm down. ECTN 16 x 2, 30 cm down.