Sawatch

Snowpack

Sean Smollen · Feb 20, 2021 · Sawatch

Weather

Cloud cover was increasing through tour. Above treeline snow was "rolling" with moderate winds out of the west. Air temp was above freezing at the TH, and -15 degrees celsius ATL. No precipitation through tour.

Snowpack

Above treeline HS was under 40cm on SW slopes. As we wrapped East, the wind blown slab thickened and HS increased (up to 150cm). In places where the HS was below a meter, results were observed at the 12/10 interface. CT8SC, ECTP12, and PSTend 38/100 all within depth hoar @ 12/10. The upper snowpack was quite intimidating with how strong in cohesion it was when it released on this layer. No observations made near treeline. Below treeline, slabs were found on terrain features with common characteristics: N-E in areas with exposure to either wind or sun. Currently, BTL most slabs are not cohesive enough to propagate failure. In a pit dug on a NE aspect at 10750' one ECTN supported this, yet propensity for propagation was noted with a PSTend 27/100 @ 65cm down 65cm on late Jan. facets. Also noteworthy, at the CMC weather station, 3cm of settlement was observed since 2/18/2021.