Weather
- Air Temp
- -3.5
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 5
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
New snow tapered off around 930 this morning, after accumulating up to 2 inches. It was breezy with winds from the Southeast, and I observed blowing snow at all elevations above the lake.
Snowpack
This morning I was focused on checking out the layer of old snow from our January drought. We've been calling this layer the "January 31 Facets". I dug several test profiles on North slopes between 6,300 ft and 7,000 ft. This layer is pretty easy to find a foot and a half beneath the surface. In all of the profiles that I dug I didn't get any test results that are indicative of avalanches. The facets are pretty rounded and are 4-finger hardness (as compared to the weakest snow which is fist hardness).
I did find very weak snow directly beneath the snow that fell this morning. It's not much of an avalanche problem now since the "slab" is only 2 inches thick, but as more snow piles up it may remain reactive. Similarly, wind deposited snow may overlay this weak snow from mid-weak and result in Wind Slab avalanches.
I also observed Moderate blowing snow from the Southeast, which may create Wind Slabs on North and West slopes.