Ongoing snowfall and wind loading is keeping the snowpack on its toes, particularly in the alpine. In sheltered terrain, the interface that we buried on 12/31 looks like it may produce continued instability, at least in the short term.
In and out of the clouds this afternoon. Periods of S-1 snowfall, southerly winds continuing to drift snow, loading northerly slopes. Lots of snow available for transport at middles, less up high.
# | Date | Location | Size | Type | Bed Sfc | Depth | Trigger | Comments | Photo |
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1 |
NE Imogene NE 10,000 |
O-Old Snow | 2-3' | N-Natural | Deep crown in NE chute off Imogene. Tough to estimate size without seeing debris, which was obscured by blowing snow and low clouds. |
Not entirely sure if this is an outlier or a sign of whats to come. Very little activity reported from this area from New Year's storm.
Was curious about how middle elevation solars were looking in our normally wetter terrain, particularly 12/7 and 12/31 interfaces. No intact SH found at 12/7 where I dug, on a sheltered, open, SE-facing slope at 8,250' where HS=75-80cm. 12/31 presented as subtle MFcr with near-surface facets above. This interface generated very unstable snowpack test scores (ECTP 1 and 2). Quite touchy, given that there is just a F to F- slab on top. Will be something to watch with additional loading.
Problem | Location | Distribution | Sensitivity | Size | Comments |
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Persistent Slab |
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Layer Depth/Date: 12/31 down 30cm Comments: Not sure how reactive this is without the crust - shaded location rose based on thought that crust is probably an important component. |
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Persistent Slab |
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Layer Depth/Date: 11/26 Comments: MFcr/DHxr with 2-3mm FC above |
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Wind Slab |
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Comments: Fresh slabs were confined to upper elevations, but older slabs were present well down into middle - product of the end of the year wind event. |