Quick report
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>No red flags were observed other than our poor snowpack structure. </p>
1) Surface hoar in Refrigerator Canyon
2) Evidence of wind drifted snow, winds from the NNE
3) Snow pit at 7,000ft, E facing terrain
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Although it's been a few days since our new snow, the Christmas Eve Rain Crust provides the perfect bed surface for this new snow to run far and wide.</p> <p>In the areas that I dug in, the 10cm of snow below the two crusts that formed with high temps and rain was comprised of weak and wet facets. In the areas I dug, the crust was strong and supportable for the new snow and myself. I don't expect this to be the case everywhere.</p>
New snow depths from the most recent storm ranged from 1" at 6,000 ft to 5" at 7,800 ft. I'll take what we can get. The new snow was low density, sitting on top of the supportable and stout Christmas Eve Rain Crust.
I found large surface hoar in refrigerator canyon, up to 12mm in size. Surface hoar was abundant throughout my tour up to the weather station, although smaller in size outside of refrigerator canyon. If these cold temps and clear nights continue, it will make our next snowfall interesting.