Quick report
I went for a short field day today and found a few pleasant turns on solar aspects around 11 am. Cloud cover this morning, combined with sustained light southwest winds, helped slow the defrost cycle on sunny aspects. January "corn" was predictable today, but rapidly diminishing coverage on southerly slopes below 11000' makes me feel like it may be short-lived.
No signs of instability were found today.Weather
- Air Temp
- 25
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Today, light to moderate winds blew from the southwest. Cloud cover decreased through the day. Windchill made temperatures feel colder at higher elevations.
Snowpack
I focused on solar aspects today.
- Southerly aspects are melting to the ground at all elevations, and most solar slopes are comprised of melt forms to the ground.
- I found generally 0-50cm of very settled, dense snow, capped by a ~15cm melt-freeze crust near the surface.
- Due south aspects have developing penitentes near the surface that are becoming larger. The best snow quality was found on SE aspects were the morning sun was softening a smoother, less sublimated surface.