Quick report
By the road we experianced a forming crust with a few inches of snow on top of it. In the lower trees around 5" of heavy snow slid a few feet on the "crust" but was not concerning on small steep slopes. From roughly 2,000' to 2,600' 14" of heavy snow is sitting over moist snow. Currently a crust has not formed at this elevation. We did not get a chance to see how concerning wind slabs were at higher elevations but that would certainly be something to look out for. We saw avalanche debris from a smaller avalanche that likely released during the storm. Unless there was evidence of avalanches in front of us, the clouds made it impossible to see if there was more avalanche activity.
Wet snow slid easily over a forming crust below 1800' but arrested after a few feet.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- light
- Rain Elevation
- 800'
- Recent Snowfall
- 2 to 14"
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Moderate snowfall in the parking lot that tapered off towards the end of the day. Above freezing at the car, close to zero F on the trip. Clouds for most of the day with occasional blue holes. No wind down low, occasionally light breeze above 2,000'
Snowpack
We had no concerning results in our field tests. The snow at almost all elevations is moist and my boot sank 2 to 3'. This can be concerning for wet avalanches. Hopefully, cold temperatures should arrive over the weekend which will increase the stability of the snow. We did not get concerning results (ECTN28) in the pit we dug at 2,600' on SE aspect. There are around 5 layers of rain saturated snow below the new snow that we will keep track of as temperatures cool off.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2 R1
- Type
- HS
- Aspect
- S
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 2600 ft
Low clouds and flat light made it difficult to see much. There was a fresh glide avalanche by our pit site. One slope had avalanche debris from a small avalanche that likely released during the storm.