Quick report
The ESAC team went for a tour in the Virginia lakes area today to survey the area post-storm and to get a sense of current instabilities. Our recent storm systems over the last week have greatly improved coverage in the area. Intermittent snow showers continued throughout the day, with periodic glimpses of blue skies and waning snowfall rates. We observed several audible collapses while climbing a sparsely treed NE slope between 9,000' and 11,000'. These collapses were associated with shooting cracks up to 20' in length in a few locations. Recent wind deposits were reactive, moving towards stubborn on test slopes near treeline. We observed deposits from 4" - 15" thick. Wind transport was impressive in the alpine today up and down the range. We were sure to avoid wind-loaded slopes capable of producing avalanches over size 1 in size. Digging in on a north aspect around 9800', we found about 50 cm of new snow since 2/4. There was a series of crust layers from the Storm on 2/1, and about 1 meter of faceted snow below. Test results found propagation just above the rain crusts on a thin layer of buried near-surface facets. See profile for more details
Weather
- Air Temp
- 27
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- intense
- Recent Snowfall
- 50
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
-Localized collapsing near and below treeline- -Reactive wind deposits 10-50 cm thick found on small test slopes near treeline- -Copious amounts of blowing snow and wind loading observed in the alpine-