Quick report
Route: Drove the pass this AM doing road obs, and then Eddies to 2000' Red Flags/Signs of Instability: See recent avalanche summary. Intense snow transport from winds, and the start of the storm arrived midday delivering the next round of precipitation! No cracking or collapsing, even in locations where today's winds were starting to form thin wind slabs... but the surface crust from yesterday was somewhat limiting the amount of snow available for transport at lower elevations. Weather: Temps right around 32f, obscured skies, with rare moments of patchy 1-2 miles of visibility. Light to moderate snow from 11 AM-4 PM, accumulating ~3cm while we were out, and snow line right around sea level when we left in the afternoon. WINDY. In any open area, frequent moderate NE winds gusting strong with moderate/intense snow transport. Seeing as we stayed in the treeline elevation band below 2,000'... the winds were whipping today! Snow Surface: Moist snow surface to 1700', with a breakable melt freeze crust from yesterday - stouter on solar aspects, but still present at 2000' on northerly aspects - sitting under a trace to 2" of new snow from overnight/today. Ski penetration of 6-12" above 1000' Snowpack: 400' - (parking lot) 60cm of very heavy, moist to wet new snow sitting on the minimal snow that was present before the past week of snow. By 1000', the week of snow had increased to 80-100cm. 1500' - 80cm of dense moist snow sat on wet melt forms. 2000' - See photos for snow structure/test results, at a slightly wind scoured location for the elevation band. Probing in the vicinity revealed 80-100cm of snow from the past week over the layer of softer, four finger hardness melt forms. At 2000', the top foot of the snowpack was dry, but below that down 200cm, moist or wet snow was observed. The 2/14 buried surface hoar was still visually obvious in the pit wall, down 150cm, and surrounded by pencil hard moist rounds. It was reactive after 20 taps with a sudden planar fracture character in a deep tap test. Of interest structure wise, a thin melt freeze crust has formed just above the BSH layer at this location, as melt water has started moving through the snowpack.
Avalanche
- Size
- D3
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 2500 ft
Generally skies were obscured today, but in some moments of visibility: One very large recent slab avalanche on the east face of Pyramid. One recent glide release on Penguin just to the west of the forecast zone. Small wet loose from yesterday along solar aspects of Seattle Ridge/south aspect of 4940', along with some slightly older dirty debris piles low in gullies. Otherwise, visibility limited views of peaks along the pass.