Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
A mid-storm check-in revealed strong to extreme winds out of the W-SW-S. Up to 7 inches of mostly right side up storm snow observed in wind-protected locations, with wind transport intense as expected. Visibilty was near whiteout conditions at times, limiting observations.
While only some specific cracking in the new storm snow on wind-loaded slopes was observed, this does not directly indicate a lack of instability due to minimal visibility.Weather
- Air Temp
- Below 32°F
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- intense
- Rain Elevation
- Snowto trailhead at 8600'
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Driving from Bishop around 11:00, the snow line was near 5000' on the Sherwin Grade on Hwy 395 just above Gorge Rd. Strong to extreme winds and blowing snow were experienced the entire drive, with maximum visibilty on the highway reaching 300', and minimum being 5'. There were periods of complete whiteout (<2' visibility) on Lake Mary Rd driving to Tamarack in Mammoth due to blowing snow and extreme winds. Leaving the truck around 12:30 at Tamarack, we experienced strong to extreme winds out of the SW. Winds were so extreme it was hard to discern between snowfall rate, blowing snow, and whiteout low-hanging clouds once leaving the reference of the trees. Gusts were enough to get mature timber to shake visibily (see video). Witnessed one large (2.5'+ diameter) tree that appeared to have recently snapped under wind force. Storm did not taper off by the time we left the field at 14:40.
Snowpack
Snow primarily falling right side up where we traveled, with 15-23cm of storm snow in sheltered locations where we traveled. Windward sides of mid-slope features were stripped to the ground while the leeward sides were loaded. The storm prevented us from having too muhc visibility on other terrain, or even immediate terrain at times. This being said, test slopes proved to be stubborn to reactive, with some cracking and very small reactive pockets of snow. Most snow appeared to be wind-stiffened, however we did not travel into exposed terrain above 8300'.
Avalanche
No new avalanches were observed, however this is a not an indicator of a lack of avalanches. Visibility was limited to up to 2' at times, while we were also avoiding avalanche terrain.