Sawatch

Snowpack

Tim Brown Ethan Greene ยท Mar 26, 2013

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Weather

Temperatures were cool and cloud cover increased from scattered to overcast in the afternoon. Strong westerly winds transported lots of snow along ridgelines, but loading patterns were inconsistent and wind directions varied greatly in the valleys.

Snowpack

The snowpack is highly variable with notable differences in coverage from slope to slope and basin to basin in this area. ABOVE TREELINE, winds have scoured snow off some slopes and redistributed it into thick slabs on others. The snowpack is more uniform NEAR TREELINE, but some areas are significantly cross-loaded. BELOW TREELINE, the snowpack is mostly thin and weak. A soft but mostly supportable mid-pack slab is developing in most areas and the snow is melting off many steep, sun-exposed slopes.