Vail & Summit County
SnowpackAndrew McWilliams · Mar 15, 2024 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Moderate easterly winds and cloudy skies gave way to mostly sunny skies and calm winds by midday. Temperatures rose into the mid-20s.
Snowpack
I observed storm totals that increased significantly as I neared Webster Pass. The storm snow was heavily affected by recent intense easterly winds on 3/14. There was only about 20cm of storm snow near the Deer Creek trailhead. Where I dug on a northwest-facing slope near treeline about three miles from the car there was about 50cm of new snow. There was minor cracking and collapsing in the new snow as I traveled and it seemed generally well-bonded to the snow beneath it. In my snowpit on a northwest-facing slope near treeline, the only result in an Extended Column Test (ECT) was below the early March dust layer, likely at a weak layer that developed in February. Given the lack of depth in my snowpit and variable depths across the slope, it is hard to say when in February this weak layer developed, but thanks to the dust layer, I can confidently say it was formed in February. The height of snow in my pit was about 115cm. The snow depth on this slope ranged from 60cm to areas with 180cm a few feet away. In these very thin areas, the only snow on the slope before the storm was about 20-30cm of facets. These facets are now covered by 40-50cm of storm snow. In a snowpit in one of these areas, I got a propagating result after two taps from the wrist in an ECT. The only recent avalanche activity I observed was a few very small loose dry sluffs in steep, rocky areas that likely ran during the storm but before the wind picked up. As I was leaving the field, the snow surfaces became moist into the above treeline elevation band and I noticed a couple small Wet Loose avalanches and some rollerball activity out of steep, rocky slopes. All of this avalanche activity was observed on westerly-facing slopes. The easterly-facing slopes I observed were stripped back to the dust layer in places and cornice features were filled in in many places. The snow surface was wind-textured on most slopes showing the predominant easterly direction during the storm.