Aspen

Snowpack

Brian Lazar · Jan 17, 2020 · Aspen

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Weather

Windy! Strong winds penetrating well below treeline and into valley floors. Downright nasty along ridgelines and higher up. Lots of drifting snow, but also lots of sublimation with such high wind speeds. Snowing S1 to up to S5 with graupel as the front moved through between noon and 1pm.

Snowpack

Average height on snow around 140cm in this area. Around 6 inches of storm snow had accumulated by 1pm, but winds were moving lots of snow around making for scoured areas and deeper drifts. New snow sits on top of a 4F hard slab over a reactive layer of buried near-surface facets a little over a foot deep. This layer was very sensitive in large column tests, and quite concerning. Avalanches breaking a foot to 18 inches deep can step into weak layers near the ground. Mid pack is a ~2ft thick slab transitioning from 4f to 1F in hardness, all sitting over depth hoar with mixed melt form at the bottom of the snowpack. Wind loading and drifting was intense today as well and precipitation rates.