Quick report
Today, forecasters took a ride up Parks Creek NF 17 road to investigate the crown of a recent persistent slab avalanche (click here to view) and look at current surface and snow conditions before the next round of weather.
The most notable finding was the widespread presence of surface hoar. Some call it winter's dew, others call it load pow, either way, this surface consists of feather crystals formed by cold, calm, and clear nights. This extremely fragile surface type, once buried, is notorious for its surprising behavior and persistent instabilities.
We observed 1-2 centimeters of surface hoar on all aspects and elevations. This includes in uncommon areas like ridge tops and south-facing aspects. The weather, especially the wind and sun, usually destroy surface hoar before it can be buried. However, sometimes areas survive, making the spacial distribution fickle and difficult to identify/locate. Incoming weather may, or may not destroy this potential weak layer. As of now, we know it exists almost everywhere on the west side of the forecast zone in the Eddy Mountains.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 27
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Crystal clear skies shown overhead, mountain temperatures sat in the high 20s, with light to moderate wind gusts out of the east-northest.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2 R1
- Type
- HS
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 6877 ft
This is one of two confirmed persistent slab avalanches. This avalanche did not run over 300 feet, but is the most destructive we've observed thus far, propagating through undulating terrain, and over 150 cm deep.