Weather
- Air Temp
- 26
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 8
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
In the morning the summit was in a cloud. Visibility was limited, and it was occassionally snowing with just a trace amount of accumulation. In the afternoon the clouds were begining to break, and visibility was improving. Winds were light to moderate from the west. The temperature was 26F near the summit in the morning and 38F at the snopark in the afternoon.
Snowpack
Today at Paulina Peak I found about 3-4" of recent storm snow sitting on a rain crust from last week. The height of snow is around 70". While touring I dug on a variety of aspects, and I found more of the basal facets we have been reporting. I found this weak layer at 7,850ft on an east aspect. I performed an extended column test and did not get any propogation at this location (ECTN#13 down 20cm).
I also dug at 7,000ft on a northwest aspect. At this location I found the height of snow to be 30". Facets continued to be present near the base of the snowpack (2mm, 4 finger hardness). Extended column tests revealed propagation in this weak layer that was down 20" (ECTP#16). These facets were sitting on a firmer layer of old snow. This older layer created a nice bed surface. The snowpack structure looked similiar to the reported avalanche that occured on January 14th in the Newberry zone.