Sawatch

Snowpack

Jared Berman · Jan 16, 2023 · Sawatch

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Observation photo 1

Weather

Increasing clouds with light snowfall throughout the day. Light winds from the west-southwest

Snowpack

New overnight snow accumulated to 10cm (4") bringing the average height of snow to approx. 150cm. Evidence of recent wind drifting was apparent from the last 24 hours. Took a closer look at a south west aspect and found a snowpack structure consisting of a mid pack rain crust with small grained facets above and below. An extended column test failed on this interface just below the crust but didn't propagate across the column (ECTN 17). Further down in the snowpack a pencil hard slab rests above a basal facet layer which is gaining strength through rounding and 4 finger hardness on the hand hardness scale. An extended column test did not produce results on this interface (ECTX)