Aspen
SnowpackColin Mitchell · Mar 11, 2015 · Aspen
Weather
Warm. Sky was covered with high thin clouds, but plenty of sun getting through.
Snowpack
The most remarkable feature of the snowpack in Lone Tree bowl today, was how warm and wet it had gotten over the past week. Snow temperatures were 0 degrees top to bottom, the snow surface was wet melt forms, and the rest of the snowpack was very moist. Snowpack structure was more or less what was expected, a pencil to knife hard slab formed from recent snows, on top of facets from the dry spell, and another thick, hard slab below that, with some softer facets at the ground. Both the mid-pack facets and the depth hoar were reactive to snowpack tests, with moderate results. Before the latest warm up, the basal depth hoar had been gaining strength, but that seems to have been reversed by recent warming, and the moist depth hoar was reactive to tests again. See profile for details. The ground under the snowpack was quite muddy, and it was difficult to keep the pit walls clean when digging near the ground. These developments are concerning with the current structure and forecast. The snow supply is limited in the upper bowls, but a full depth avalanche seems likely to reach the road.