BWRA

Today I took a quick snowmobile ride into the BWRA to see how the recent warm temperatures were affecting the snow surface at higher elevations. Although the sun was out and the daily high temperatures have been in the mid 30's to low 40's the last few days much of the snowpack remained firm due to an increase,  in wind speed.  I stayed above 9000ft and traveled on multiple aspects and areas with different tree cover to see how the overall conditions were. I was able to find some areas of deep boot pen and a few roller balls but was unable to get any test slopes to slide. Winds from the SW  kept the snow surface cold and firm. I saw little evidence of wet loose instabilities during my time in the field 1200- 1500.   Although temperatures have been warm during daylight hours the Leavitt Lake SNOTEL only shows a loss of 4 inches in snow depth at 9,600 ft.