Front Range
SnowpackAndrew McWilliams · Nov 27, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
Light westerly winds had not started to increase by afternoon. Intermittent snow squalls accumulated to about 1cm throughout the tour.
Snowpack
There was about 10cm of low-density snow that fell with light winds overnight and through the morning. There was no slab quality to the new snow however winds had not picked up yet. When wind speeds increase this snow will be easily transported into easterly-facing start zones. The structure beneath the new snow consists of two layers of pencil-hard rounds sandwiching a facet layer and then facets that extend to the ground. The basal facet layer is becoming thicker and grain size is increasing, but is not quite depth hoar - yet. The upper crust is 2cm thick and is just below the new snow. The thicker one (10cm) is 26cm below the surface. Both layers were reactive in extended column tests (see snowpit image).