Grand Mesa
SnowpackColin Mitchell · Feb 16, 2016 · Grand Mesa
Weather
Warm and breezy. HS 60" in the weather plot.
Snowpack
Snowpack is still deep and solid on northerly aspects. Previous wind-loading in and around the study plot led to an average HS around 2 meters. The weather plot still has 150 cm on the stake. Most of the season's snow has consolidated into a thick hardslab. Snowmobiles in the clearings along the road were only penetrating around 15 cm. The snow surface is a mix of thin sun crusts and thick melt-freeze crusts, depending on aspect, with a 1-2 cm SH on top. The Island Lake area has almost melted off. There is around 30 cm of well-consolidated spring-like snow. Snowpack consists of melt forms with a thick m/f crust at the surface. Lots of runnels have formed on the surface, indicating that the snowpack is draining well. This slope may be bare by this time next week. Other areas with southerly or westerly exposure were similar, and HS dropped off rapidly as I headed down the south side of the Mesa. Very little snow left at the bottom of the north fork valley.