Sargents

The current warm and wet storm panned out to have slightly lower precipitation amounts and cooler temperatures than predicted throughout the day today. I found well-bonded new snow that was right-side-up, sitting atop a thick rain crust up to 7,200 feet. This may not be the setup in other areas/the West Mountain Zone.

 Rain crust was replaced by a rime crust above 7,200 feet, with around 8-10 inches of new snow atop it. Winds were just starting to tick upwards around 3 PM, with a light drizzle of snow-rain [snain] continuing. It is very likely that hefty slabs of dense new snow will build overnight. Today’s avalanche conditions were closely tied to the weather forecast, and it appears that we have not reached peak hazard for this storm cycle.

What is certain is that we’re not out of the woods yet. With much of the new snow not quite forming a slab, yet most of it sitting on stout, slippery crusts, the minute clear sky and sun get a chance to pop out either Wednesday or Thursday, things will destabilize quickly. Overall assessment: dense slabs of wind-drifted snow were forming above 7K. Dependent on how much wind blows and how much snow falls tonight, it seems the most likely natural trigger for this snowpack setup will not be rain—but continued wind, a clear sky, sunshine, and warming temps. 

Cracking of dense wind slab above 7,500 feet

Observed a surprisingly right-side-up snowpack. Noted a rain crust beneath the newest snowfall up to 7,200 feet, and rime crust above that to 7,800 feet.

2/14 and 2/8 buried deeply/a non-issue on the aspects and elevations I traveled in this location (mostly due W).