Quick report
I went to Rock Creek to dig a snow profile on a shaded slope near the lake and to look for wet loose instabilities on solar slopes.
- I saw no signs of instability. No rollerballs, or wet loose avalanches. No recent avalanches of any kind.
- The snowpack is melting away on slopes with sun exposure and coverage is worse than the last time I was in this area.
Weather
- Air Temp
- Well above freezing
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
There's no vitamin D shortage. Clear, high-pressure day with increasing, but light, northeast wind.
Snowpack
Similar to other drainages across the forecast area:
Solar slopes have melted out, or are in the process of melting. Solar slopes with snow cover have a familiar crust/facet/crust combo in the upper 25 cm of the snowpack. The surface crust varies in thickness and hardness depending on elevation, slope angle, and canopy (more open = thicker, firmer). The top 10 cm of the snowpack on these slopes did get wet today, but I couldn't get any rollerballs of facets to glop together and tumble down the slope.
Upper elevation west, north, and east slopes look heavily wind-affected, with westerly aspects having the worst coverage.
Sheltered and shady slopes have a shallow (HS 30=80 cm) and faceted snowpack.