Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
The day began with dry and very pleasant snow early in the day, with the 2/7 crust on average 8-12 inches deep in the area. The new snow had been wind affected. I observed drifts in Mondays most recent snow up to 1.5 feet deep at my high point 5200 feet, meanwhile some areas had been scoured back closer to the crusts. Travel was fast and fun on the new snow. We observed the warming, snow got sticky, wet and gloppy on direct solars, sticking to our polls. Moist to wet snow 2-4 inches deep. Despite very moist snow surfaces, wet loose activity remained small, mostly rollerballs. with a few longer running wet loose from steep southerly slopes on Goat and Sefrit. Snow was still dry on shaded areas and aspects in the afternoon, and wet solars that had moved into the shade had already developed a thin crust. Recently built wind features from Mondays snow produced cracking involving wind drifted snow up to 1' deep. Outside one reactive, most were quite stubborn and needed a real good kick to let loose. Snow surfaces in direct solars got moist to wet around late morning, and you could produce roller balls on stepp slopes. Outside roller balls, small wet loose were observed running naturally in steep southerly terrain in the afternoon.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 35
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Rain Elevation
- 2700
- Recent Snowfall
- 20
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Skies were partly cloudy with mid level clouds which became more sunny as the day progressed. The morning was cool, but got warm quickly. Winds were light/calm.
Snowpack
On average there was 6-8 inches of new snow from Monday, with 1-1.5 feet of snow over the 2/7 crust at 5000 feet. The 2/7 crust was knife hard and 20 cm thick. 1F hardness moist melt forms below 2/7 crust. A thin, very breakable crust also exists beneath the newest snow from Monday, above the 2/7 crust. At lower elevation, Heather Meadows the 2/7 crust is much closer to the surface and just below Mondays most recent snow. The most notable test results were repeated CT failures(easy) above the thin crust and about 10 cm down midway through Mondays snow. Large column tests produced no results.
Avalanche
Most slopes produced just piles of roller balls however. There were a fewer longer running wet loose, D1 in size on the border peaks. One skier triggered D1 sluff in the blueberry cutes of Table Mountain.