Front Range
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · Feb 16, 2016 · Front Range
Weather
Skies were mostly clear in the morning trending towards broken with high cloud moving in. Wind was light BTL, gusts in the twenties NTL, and estimated gusts of 30+ mph at ridgetop. Wind loading was intense in exposed ridgetop areas but moderate in most places. Hard to estimate new snow overnight as all the storm snow was bonded well and wind-drifted in many places. HST estimated at 6 inches.
Snowpack
Intense wind loading in some ridgetop areas but no signs of instability within wind-drifted snow. No cracking in any wind drifts and small test slopes were benign. Overall, storm snow is bonded very well to old snow surfaces including melt-freeze crusts.---As for warming, the wind kept snow surface NTL and BTL dry even on sunny aspects. BTL snow surface was moist on most aspects but no rollerballing or pinwheeling noted. There was no Loose Wet avalanche activity today and it seems the very dense snow took the heat and sun well.---Persistent Slab avalanche problem still lurks. The snowpack structure leaves a lot to be desired. Propagation in an extended column test at 100 cms from the surface on an east aspect on facets below a crust. Depth hoar continues to gain strength but still not strong enough to ignore. A large load would re-awaken deeper weak layers.