Quick report
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>None; perhaps some isolated wind drifts in the alpine. </p>
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Would anticipate the initial warm snow to bond fairly well to the warm old snow surfaces. Exception would include slick hard wind-board. Any initial graupel associated with frontal passage would bond poorly, though it may all be academic with periods of higher precipitation intensity and post-frontal winds on Monday. Following winds Monday evening again look problematic. </p>
Old snow surfaces are a mixed bag of wind and melt freeze crusts, and both damp and dry soft settled powder. Supportable quasi - corn found on mid/low elevation sunny aspects. Last week's surface hoar appears to be long gone and any surface facets have been affected by warmth, wind, and direct sun.
Cool to find wind deposited surface hoar. See below - Interesting to note that one can - under certain conditions - have facet/slabs from wind blown snow (but surface hoar wind slabs? )
And the dramatic drifting over the past couple of days - note the wind feature pointing in to the wind (looker's left to right) in contrast to the cornice in the background leaning looker's left to the east.