Front Range
SnowpackPaul Rogers · Feb 26, 2014 · Front Range
Weather
Clear skies, and temps in the mid 20s. Very warm and no wind below TL. Above TL consistent winds of 25-30 mph from WNW kept things much cooler. There was snow transport, at ridge top but only last nights snow - otherwise there's nothing left to transport.
Snowpack
Dug a pit on a SSE aspect at 11,500. Snowpack composition was similar to the recent observations on Rollins Pass by Brian Lazar. Height of snowpack was 210cm. 2 inches of new snow which included graupel resting on a weak crust. Under the crust are two slabs -- first is 1F and 15 cm thick, second is pretty much a continuous pencil slab (rounding grains) that goes all the way down to 100 cm and rests on a thick decomposing ice crust with facets over & above. There is a thin layer of 1mm facets in the middle of this slab, ~70cm down. The large continuous pencil mid-pack slab is an impressive representation of the high settlement and snow water equivalent we've had recently. I could not get any results during CT, ECT and DTT. Even so, the layer at 100cm down does cause concern especially in areas where this mid-pack slab is thinner.