Sawatch
SnowpackIan Hoyer ยท Jan 4, 2017
Weather
Snowing and blowing hard all day. 6" on the truck in between 10 am and 5 pm, and the depth of new snow increased dramatically with elevation. White out conditions above treeline. Big swirly gusts even way down below treeline. Very warm, wet net snow.
Snowpack
Around 12" new snow by mid-afternoon near treeline. This snow was surprising noncohesive and not slabby, even in windy areas. Seems like maybe the very gusty winds were too intense for good wind-loading. I didn't travel above treeline, so I can't vouch for conditions there, other than that there was so much blowing snow it created a serious whiteout. White I could see some near surface faceting under the new snow, they weren't particularly well developed. The snowpack seemed mostly right side up, with even the facets at the ground rounding and gaining strength. It seem like it would take a very big load to bring these basal facets back into play.