Green Butte Ridge

Today's objective was to measure new snow accumulations and investigate the extent of wind slab instability. The showery nature of the current storm system has provided an additional ~6 inches of snow to the south side of Mount Shasta. In total, since 3/27, most observed areas show 24 inches of new snow. For most areas, snow quality remains adequate thanks to the consistent cool temperatures and cloud cover. Green housing is beginning to dampen surface snow in some zones. I suspect there will be a rising wet avalanche instability once the sun comes out.
Wind slabs have been observed on westerly aspects, near and above treeline. These slabs are fairly easy to trigger with ski cuts, running quick on the loose, dry, surface snow. Based on today's observations, there is potential for large wind slab avalanches in upper level terrain where slopes are more connected. So long as the wind continues, this problem will linger.

The most obvious instabilities observed were cracking, and slope failure due to wind slab development. Near and above treeline, easterly wind was actively loading all westerly aspects. Multiple small wind slabs were triggered by ski cut on a northwest aspect. Though these were quite small, slabs broke up to 10 inches deep, and up to 25 feet wide. This is a clear indicator that similar connected slopes could hold large wind slabs. A pit was dug above treeline, on a southeast aspect, to search for general new snow instabilities. Upon compression test, failure occurred on tap 14, down 10 inches from the surface at a density change within the new snow. This failure plane did not propagate in further testing, thus does warrant further concerns. Upon ski down, surface snow quickly became damp. This is likely due to the partial sunlight and green housing effects from heavy cloud cover. Snow balls became easy to form, trending toward wet loose instability.

Green Butte Ridge

Quick report

Weather

Snowpack