Quick report
Today was a sunny day with great skiing and riding conditions in Cooke City. The wind was blowing moderately from the south west and increased later in the afteroon.
After noon clouds started moving in. Around 4:30 pm, we had a short graupel shower that stopped quickly.
In elevations above 10,000 ft, we found dry snow on northerly aspects. The upper 3 inches have gone through the so called "radiation recrystallization" process. Briefly explained: solar radiation warms up the upper few inches. A long wave radiation loss cools down the surface and a huge temperature gradient occurs which allows facets to form. We could see those facets forming today, two inches below the snow surface.
On south facing lopes at 10,000 ft, we found a lot of melt freeze crusts in the upper foot of snow. Water was traveleing about a foot deep into the snowpack where it started pooling on top of a crust. Below, the snow remained dry.
Our tests on both aspects resulted in no propagation (ECTX).
We obsered winds that transported snow.