Vail & Summit County
SnowpackAnonymous · Mar 10, 2011 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Above freezing Tair well above 11,000ft and very little winds. Blue skies and intense radition (towards the end of the day we already observed some very small near sfc facetting below a "wind skin" on N'erly aspects).
Snowpack
The warm temps and intense radiation stabilized the spx throughout the day and significantly compared to the previous day. On SE-SW suncrusts of various thickness and hardness developed up to 13,000ft by mid afternoon and lots of rollerballing originating from rock, cliffs, trees at/below treeline were evident. On N-E at/above treeline, the snow remained cold and powdery. On W aspects above treeline, there is only snow in crossloaded terrain features; the spx is generally thin with lots of large DH and mostly thin hardslab. The instabilities of concerns were recent windslab especially on N-E at/above treeline; for several days now throughout different areas in the Front Range, I have not observed any buried sfc facets and the Jan buried sfc facets have been rounding for quite some time and have even disappeared into rounds on S facing slopes below/at treeline so the deep slab instabilities are becoming a rare concern by now confined to higher elevations and shady aspects. No instability signs or avy observed