Goat's Eye Profile

Snowpack

Obs Type

point

Profile taken at treeline (2200 m) on Goat's Eye mountain. The snowpack is growing weaker each day with these cold temperatures, and you can see in this profile that the entire snowpack is now faceted. Note the strong temperature gradient in the upper half of the snowpack, which is driving vapor up and out of the snowpack rapidly and creating the conditions for the Loose Dry facet avalanches we have been seeing this week. Although the base of the snowpack remains pencil hard, these grains are changing to facets quickly and there is depth hoar on the ground. The most prominent weakness is the November 12 crust, easily visible in this profile - weak facets above and below. This is the layer to watch - a classic Deep Persistent Slab problem in development.