Quick report
We toured from the Crow Creek Trailhead to a high point of 2500' to monitor the Valentine's Day buried surface hoar and assess how much new snow had accumulated from the storm beginning late yesterday afternoon. At our high point of 2500', we found 8" of new snow, which appears to be bonding well to the old snow surface. At mid-elevations, we found a moist snowpack that appears to be rounding. In two snowpits, we found the Valentine's Day buried surface hoar layer 35cm from the surface, which appeared laid down. We had unreactive results in our snow pit tests as the surface hoar was not upright in this location; however, at a similar elevation on a SE aspect, we observed a wet slab that stepped down to a weak layer, likely the Valentine's layer. This is a great example of how spatially variable this layer is.
Widespread wet-loose activity on solar aspects. In one observed location, a wet loose stepped down and released a slab on a weak layer- likely the Valentine's surface hoar layer. We also observed a recent glide avalanche on a SE aspect.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- light
- Rain Elevation
- 0
- Recent Snowfall
- 20
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
As the storm tapered off in the morning, skies cleared, and the sun came out. Around 2pm, high clouds covered the sky, with light pulses of snowfall throughout the rest of the afternoon accumulating less than an inch. Winds were light in the valley, and visibility remained decent despite the obscured skies.
Snowpack
We found 5cm of moist snow at the trailhead, transitioning slowly to dry above 2000'. At our high point, ~2500', there was 20cm of new snow. We dug two snowpits at 2500' and found the Valentine's buried surface hoar layer, which was 35cm deep at this location. The surface hoar was laid over and unreactive in our snow pit tests (ECTX). The snowpack at mid-elevations is moist and appears to be rounding.