Weather
- Air Temp
- 27
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 16
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Skies were mostly cloudy, becoming partly sunny except for low clouds that occasionally limited visibility. Temperatures ranged from 32° F at Bunny Flat to 27° F at 8,800 feet in Avalanche Gulch. Moderate WNW wind blew consistently moderate with strong gusts near and above treeline.
Snowpack
At 8,800 feet on a southeast facing moraine, we dug down to further investigate the weak layer and crust interfaces that recent avalanches occurred within. The 6 inches of new snow was easily reactive in stability tests but did not have the energy to propagate across a column of snow. The weak snow between the December 18th and December 30th crusts was stubborn to trigger, but it had enough energy to carry the crack across the column. A propagation saw test (PST) on this layer verified its stubborn properties as propagation did not occur until 70% of the way through the column. This suggests that propagation of this layer on nearby slopes is unlikely.
At this location, we recorded a snow height of 140 cm. The December 18th crust was located 80 cm down from the surface and the December 30th crust was 64 cm down.