Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 10-15
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Mainly overcast with intermittently broken sky cover. Calm winds and no precip today. We had decent visibility of slopes above and across the valley.
Snowpack
We traveled up to 5000’ on mid slope terrain. At 5000’ on a West aspect we found a snowpack height of 245cm (~7ft). At this elevation, we observed 15cm (6in) of low density new snow. All column tests were resistant in both the new snow and older deeper snowpack layers. A well preserved layer of large (4mm) graupel was found down 50cm deep. The January Drought Layer (JDL) is down 80cm at this location. The JDL facets comprise a 30 cm thick layer of small facets(1mm) that are 4F+ hard. No test results or surface hoar was found on the JDL, though we were expecting to find either one or both. Under the JDL is a knife hard, 5cm thick, crust.