Public Observation

Observation Details

Observations

Toured in the backyard today up to Mammoth Knolls, as it was one of the few options that would not involve much of a drive in the blizzard conditions and limited by the many local road closures. An existing skin track from yesterday had mostly been filled back in. There was an additional 20 cm of incredibly light low density snow from overnight, and during the 3 hours we were out picked up an another 10-15cm which with increasing winds felt deeper in many areas.

During the time we were making observations, there was not much notable slabiness to the snow, though we could feel the underlying wind (or solar?) affected snow from yesterday on anything S and SE. The only sign of instability I noted was the the fast sluffing, in protected locations, with confining terrain features loose dry seemed a present hazard for those avoiding the more exposed terrain that could harbor slab problems. While on a steeper bump there was a small collapse and I was able to cause an en-echelon fracture, a unique failure that I have only seen during these massive loading cycles with low density snow.

Signs of Unstable Snow