Front Range
SnowpackBrian Lazar · Dec 19, 2012 · Front Range
Weather
COLD! Temperatures never reached 0F and dropped from there after noon. Winds started relatively light from the south, and abruptly shift to WNW around noon. Winds speeds increased dramatically with the direction shift. Obscured skies and light snow (up to S2 in short bursts) all morning until things began to lift around 2:30 pm. Approximately 2 inches of new snow through the day.
Snowpack
HST= 30 cm or so. The storm seems to have ended with a slightly denser snow type for the upper 5 cm or so. A bit of an upside down feel while trail breaking. Very touchy snowpack; shooting cracks hundred+ feet and up to an inch in width, collapses over hundreds of feet, remote triggering of avalanches from 300+ feet away. Drifts of new snow are up to 90 cm deep. Generally still very thin snowpack. Lots of obstacles barely covered now. HS ranges from 30 cm where storm snow is covering bare ground to 1m deep on north-facing and wind-loaded areas.