Quick report
- Aspect
- Northwest
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2835 m
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Snowpack is showing signs of strengthening, but poor structure remains in place. Just dormant for now.</p>
Route today was LCC -> BCC through Cardiff. Had not been in Cardiff in three weeks, and when I was last in there was finding very poor snowpack structure. Was looking today in thinner snowpack areas where I was expecting to find the weakest structure, but overall seeing positive signs:
- faceted layers are gaining strength, and showing signs of sintering and rounding (photo below)
- other than a small gradient in the top 10 cms of the snowpack, no temperature gradient.
The latter allows the snowpack to gain strength, although this happens slowly. Regardless, a positive trend.
Photo of snowpit structure with the exception of the top 10 cms, essentially no temperature gradient. (A gradient is defined as a difference of at least 1° C per 10 cms.)
Photos of faceted crystals showing evidence of rounding and sintering (forming bonds between the grains.) This is good!
Snowpack
Despite the warmth & wind, the snow surface is actually quite decent in places with 10-15 cms (4-6") of soft, spongy snow on top of a supportable base. Wind & warm temps have stiffened the snow surface a bit, and could not get any loose sluffs to move. There was enough wind to cool the snow surface and keep the greenhousing to a minimum at the lower elevations.