Front Range

Snowpack

Ryan Zarter · Dec 23, 2019 · Front Range

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Weather

A warm morning with calm winds. Skies cleared over the area as the day progressed, becoming SCT by the end of my tour.

Snowpack

On a southeast aspect near treeline, the snowpack consisted of 30cm thick 1F slab over a 10cm thick layer of fist hard facets over a melt-freeze crust. This sits on top of another thin facet layer that overlays a thicker, decomposing melt-freeze crust on the ground. Propagating ECT results were observed on a facet layer 36cm above the ground. On a northeast aspect below treeline I found a 30-40cm thick 1F slab over 15cm of depth hoar on the ground. See attached snowpit profiles for more detail.