Grand Mesa
SnowpackBrandon Levy · Jan 12, 2020 · Grand Mesa
Weather
Broken skies transitioned to dark overcast and steady snow by 1130 am. Winds were light and steady from the South.
Snowpack
Where the snowpack is shallow (1m or less) it is composed of mainly faceted grains and lacks strength, energy, and slab structure above the 12/24/19 near-surface faceted grains and 11/30/19 depth hoar. In deeper previously drifted locations the snowpack is up to 1.5 meters deep. A long column test showed the 11/30/19 depth hoar is still capable of fracture but it would take the wrong spot--a shallower location that is not totally faceted to affect that particular weak layer. In the deeper, previously drifted location a small column test produced hard and sudden result on the 12/24/19 near surface faceted layer (CTH20 SC down 55cm on FCsf 1 mm)