Sawatch

Snowpack

Kreston Rohrig · Mar 3, 2018 · Sawatch

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Weather

Very spring like with warm temps and intense solar input. Light winds at ridgetop helped keep snow surfaces cool at higher elevations.

Snowpack

Below treeline on E-S-W the snow surface was moist trending to wet from intense solar and warm temps. Northerly facing slopes at higher elevation were staying cold with the help of a cool breeze. HS ranged from 120-280cm along the ridgetop. I dug on a north facing slope near treeline in an open wind-loaded bowl and found the snowpack to be gaining strength. HS was 130cm in my pit and layers of the mid to upper pack were mostly 1F to P hardness well bonded rounds. Even the weak facets and DH in the lower 50cm were gaining strength and were now 4F to 1F hard. ECTX and CTM RP on a small layer of near surface facets buried 30cm down.