Public Field Report

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Toured around prairie creek this afternoon (1/2/2022). Milky skies overhead (with occasional sun peeking through) and little to no wind even on exposed ridge lines. There was however significant wind effect on exposed ridge lines. Temps in the high single digits to low teens. Southerly slopes exposed to the sun have remained soft and skied quite well. Dug a quick snowpit on a SE aspect at 8000 ft out of curiosity (given recent reports of NSF and SH being discovered near this region). It yielded the following results:

-HS 115 cm - clear gray stripe in the middle of the pack dividing the two bouts of recent snow. This wasn’t developed to the point of SH
-ECTN 20 cm from surface on density change in recent storm snow
-ECTX otherwise
-No October snow present in this location

I avoided all avalanche terrain for sake of simplicity and goals for the day, and didn’t feel the need to change this plan (the low angle skiing is quite good right now, even on southerly slopes).