Front Range

Strong winds from the southwest.

Below the treeline, the snow has been very affected by warm weather and sun. In open areas on southerly aspects, the snowpack had diminished, and there was a very firm crust under new snow. On easterly and northerly aspects, there was very little slab, and there was no propagation on any tests below treeline. Near treeline on north, northeast, and east aspects, the base of the snowpack is facets that are rounding and were generally 1 finger hard. The midpack was almost impossible to dig through and was all knife-and-pencil hard. On north aspects, there was a layer of graupel mixed with defragmenting particles around 30cm deep that was reactive in Column Tests but did not propagate in Extended Column Tests. I do not think this layer will be problematic for long. On east aspects, there were some small facets beneath a melt-freeze crust that produced clean shears in shovel-tilt and shear tests but did not propagate in any tests. This could be a layer to watch with more load. On some wind-drifted rolls, I was able to get small cracks, and the largest slab we were able to pop out was about the size of a pool table.