Roman Nose

While the weather feels like Groundhog Day, the snowpack continues to evolve during our current dry weather spell. Extensive faceting driectly below the widespread surface crust does not changing overall conditions at present, but is setting the stage for a worrisome set-up if winter and new snow loads return.

We found 8 to 10 inches of weak, faceted snow (F to 4F-) below today's variable snow surfaces across all elevations. On the surface was a firm supportive curst on east through south to west aspects that was generally an inch thick. On shady, northerly slopes, the same crust was much weaker and breakable. The crust had completely broken down in isoalted areas of shady slopes and had similar depth of faceted snow. As we migrated further down in elevation and away from ridgelines, the surface crust was not as supportive but also varied greatly on similar slopes. This will likely throw an interesting mix into the equation if and when a new slab forms above. Sheltered areas are growing a new batch of surface hoar on top of the surface crust and some feathers were heavily rimed from recent low-lying fog/ clouds. Lots of broken cornices and large chunks on slopes below. These likely gave way during the rapid warm-up and rain around January 12.