Front Range
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · May 20, 2019 · Front Range
Weather
Southerly winds drifting snow mostly at ridgetop. A lot less drifted snow near treeline. Generally stormy conditions with periods of heavy snow followed by breaks in the clouds. Towards afternoon there were less breaks between squalls and snowfall was more consistent. There was about 4 inches of storm snow from the past few days with an additional 1 to 2 inches while I was out.
Snowpack
Underneath the recent storm snow is a firm melt-freeze crust. With the incoming storm instabilities will be at this crust or above the crust in the storm snow. I did not find any concerning wet layers or faceted layers that avalanches would break deeper on.---The recent south to southeasterly winds drifted snow onto westerly and northerly slopes. Slabs of wind-drifted snow were generally unreactive though I did find some shooting cracks in isolated areas. The wind drifts are anywhere from 6 to 12 inches thick, thickest at ridgetop. Avalanches triggered in wind-drifted snow would currently be small in size.
Avalanche
No recent avalanche observed