Quick report
The rain on snow event today produced fewer natural loose avalanches on shady, low-elevation slopes than I expected. The rainwater hung near the surface and formed a crust but did not impact the rest of the shallow, faceted snowpack. This crust will likely reduce the sensitivity of a new avalanche problem when snow accumulates above, but once slabs builds up, the crust/facet structure will be problematic.
Glassing terrain around CB, I spotted a few tiny, Wet Loose avalanches on very steep, shady slopes below 10,000 feet. There may have been a few others, but the visibility prevented confirmation. Rain rates midday led me to believe there would be more natural Wet Loose avalanches, but activity appeared to be infrequent.Weather
In town, very light rain began just before 6 am. Rain intensity increased just before noon and continued until 1 pm (I was surprised by the rainfall rates). A brief period of snowfall in the early afternoon melted as it hit the ground. I observed drifting snow off the highest peaks just before sunset.
Snowpack
I dug a hasty profile near the Snodgrass TH to investigate the impact of the rain event. At 9,600 feet, on a northeast feature with about a foot of total snowpack, rainwater hung in the top inch or two and was refreezing before sunset. The facets below the rain crust were moist, but were not flooded by rainwater.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1 R1
- Type
- WL
- Count
- 2
- Aspect
- NE
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 9900 ft
Probable natural Wet Loose avalanche due to rain.