Front Range
AvalancheRich Rogers · Feb 20, 2024
Weather
Windy, warm(37ºF), sunny with high, very thin clouds streaming overhead which gave way to more scattered fluffier clouds as Eastern edge of a northerly storm pushes across the state tonight-Thursday.
Snowpack
On Pikes Peak, the swirling winds seem to constantly change the distribution and hardness of snow from days to wks at a time. Generally, where the snow is 3-5ft deep the structure consists of typical persistent slab properties, stronger wind-packed snow over old weak snow near the ground. Mainly in other shallower areas, the snowpack was entirely weak from the surface to ground or thin and very hard enough to where it was difficult to get a ski edge to hold on the surface. Moving around to southerly aspects of Elk Park Knoll, a good tightly packed snowball was easily made from surfaces receiving direct sun. Felt wet but could not squeeze any water out of it.
Avalanche
No obvious signs of new avalanche activity in area, other than the avalanche that occurred on 02/07/24- https://avalanche.state.co.us/observations/field-report/9a041bba-4917-4772-9ab2-5d5f68b462a8 and 2/6- https://avalanche.state.co.us/observations/field-report/664d68b1-a4c3-4328-9fc3-ca1f3af7ad14