Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
6" of new snow wasn't enough to form a slab or cause avalanche concerns in wind-protected terrain below treeline here. More snow or wind drifting could easily tip the scales; we were already seeing minor cracking on our well-developed weak layer under these modest storm totals.
A few cracks on the 11/16 weak layer (crust/facet complex) up to 6' long above about 10,500'.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- Below valley floor
- Recent Snowfall
- 15
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Calm winds, very light snowfall this morning, and cloud cover lifting a bit by midday.
Snowpack
Total snow depth is 12" to 18". About 6" of new snow accumulated on soft crusts that formed from Thursday's rain/warm temps. The crusts are semi-supportive to skis at valley bottom and gradually diminish to very thin and almost non-existent at 10,500'. Isolated cracking in the new snow developed as we gained elevation to where the crusts are weakest, but there's not quite enough snow for a storm slab problem here. The facets below the crusts are weak: fist hard, ~2mm in size.