Vail & Summit County
SnowpackScott Toepfer · Jan 26, 2013 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Interesting day of weather. Rain event noted from the 25th from near treeline to the trailhead ant 8,800 ft. Lots of sign of this (wafer thin to 2" thick crusts) until treeline. Very droopy & saggy looking snowpack in lower East Vail. Must have gotten very close to a wet slide cycle there on Friday 25th. Interesting rime event from 10,000 ft and higher also formed on the 25th above 10,000 ft. Rime feathers could be seen on the snow surface, fairly wide spread, but not enough to think about as a weak layer in the future. Very nice stratus clouds hovering from 13,000 to 14,000 feet all day. Helped keep temperatures cool, even though it was above freezing. Days tour started at 9:30 and 34 F at 8,800ft. Tour ended at 6:30 PM and still 34 degrees. (It was lite rain at the trailhead...8,800 ft when we got to the car 6:30 PM) Base of the Narrows Pathes on I-70 it was 32F degrees and snowing S1 to S2 at 8 PM. 32 F from Copper all the way to Breckenridge on my drive home at 9 PM. Very warm moist sub-tropical Pacific airmass over us today.
Snowpack
A complicated mix of conditions. Most overwhelming feature is a faceted base layer. Current storm if it drops 7 to 12" of high moisture content snow could stress the old snow resulting in full depth avalanches. On several aspects and elevation regimes.