Front Range
SnowpackIan Fowler · May 9, 2025 · Front Range
Weather
By about 10 am, cloud buildup mostly blocked the sun and kept temperatures moderate. When the sun did pop out, it was hot. There was plenty of rimed thunder snow in the afternoon, and at lower elevations, it was sprinkling rain.
Snowpack
Below treeline there was about 1 foot of settled storm snow that was fully wet and easily slid off steeper slopes. The size was small however. On easterly aspects near and above treeline the snow has settled down to about 8 to 10 inches and is mostly moist. There is about 1 inch left of cold, dry snow that gave clean shears in shovel tilt tests above the melt-freeze crust formed before the storm. On north aspects, the snow is mostly cold still, with just the top 3-4 inches getting wet and dry cold snow beneath. At about 11,800 feet, the snow was completely dry still. In some areas, there were mid-storm crusts that could act as pooling layers for deeper avalanches, but the snow was well bonded throughout with no signs of any surface wind slabs. Loading patterns were unusual, and I would be especially cautious on steep northwest and west aspects for possible dry surface instabilities. South aspects were very moist but seemed to have shed most of there snow in steep terrain. I was unable to push any snow down even in steep terrain.