Sawatch

Snowpack

Ian Hoyer · Feb 7, 2017 · Sawatch

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Weather

Warm, windy, and wet. Crossed rain-snow line just above Poncha Springs. Snowing S1 mid-day, with gusty winds redistributing it quite effectively.

Snowpack

Only ~2-3" new by mid-afternoon. Sitting above hard sun crusts on SE-S aspects. No crust on NW-N-E, but old snow seemed to have faceted a bit. New snow was quite slabby, and on more sheltered slopes it was breaking easily on a layer of dendrites & groupel at the base of the new snow. Seemed better bonded in wind-affected areas where there wasn't this soft layer at the base of the new snow. A bit of wind-transport going on, but drifts were only ~6" deep so far.