Quick report
The state of the snow in the Blues is pretty disheartening after visiting the Southern Wallowas, and having the height of snow over our heads. Currently, there's hardly even enough snow to get out and recreate safely. At the highest locations, on shaded aspects, or flat surfaces it's possible to cross-country ski, or make a few downhill turns. I wouldn't be enthusiastic about snowmobiling with the lack of coverage.
We won't begin forecasting with a Danger Rating in the Blues until there's more coverage.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 3
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Another warm day in the mountains, with highs well above freezing. No wind, mostly sunny skies.
Snowpack
I dug a snowpit on a NE aspect at 5,400' on the backside of the old ski area. The height of snow at that location was 2' deep, but in many other locations, there was less. Plenty of grass still sticking up on the ski slope, and once you begin descending back to Elgin the coverage quickly dissolves.
The warmup during the third week of November during the bomb cyclone put a hurt on the depth of snow in the Blues. The rain crust from Nov. 22 was 4-5" thick, and the snow to the ground was wet. My snowpack test results revealed good stability, but the snowpack had more facets than I've seen in the deeper snowpacks I've dug into in the Wallowas.