Front Range
AvalancheRyan Lewthwaite · Feb 27, 2020 · Front Range
Weather
A cold morning with temps in the single digits. Northwest winds were light gusting to moderate with significant wind transport of snow, especially at ridgelines. The clouds were broken for most of the day.
Snowpack
The moderate to strong northwest winds were redistributing any soft snow to lee areas near and below treeline. On exposed west facing slopes many areas are thin and weak grains are close to the surface. The drifted snow near treeline is hollow underneath, of 1 finger hardness, and highly variable in thickness and density. We mostly observed minor localized cracking and one crack that propagated 60 feet in an isolated concave feature. Above treeline on windward aspects the only snow exists in cross loaded gullies. Below treeline we saw no evidence of substantial instability. There is a subsurface melt-freeze crust on southern aspects that can be grabby.
Avalanche
No new avalanches to report.