Weather
Broken skies becoming overcast by the afternoon. Winds were light out of the WSW, increasing slightly in the afternoon along with light flurries.
Snowpack
Weak and shallow. Of note, I have predominantly been traveling and skiing on the west side of Teton Pass, and while still below average the snowpack there is far less grim than what I encountered today.
The weekend’s forecasted storm of potentially 1.5’’ of liquid, arriving with denser snow and wind, will require a change in mindset given the widespread weak snow both at the surface and below. The high pressure and small storms have allowed what snow has fallen to weaken through strong temperature gradients. Today I found some preserved surface hoar, capped by this week’s light snowfall (9,000’ E) and also a facet crust combination (9,055’ SE) – of which I also felt west of the pass Monday.
It's no surprise we have a myriad of weak snow grains scattered through our young snowpack. As the storm ramps up, I suspect it will become quite reactive in the form of wind slabs up high, and in sheltered steep areas expect storm slabs to become reactive – perhaps breaking initially near the weak snow at the surface and perhaps deeper as the load increases. Lastly, while the east side of the Tetons has less snow in the mid-elevation bands the west side of the pass has uniform snow on some solar aspects - most of which is weak, and I would expect those steeper slopes to show signs of instability if this storm pans out.