Sawatch

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Nov 17, 2018 · Sawatch

Weather

Windy and warm at midday. After around 2 PM winds decreased in speed and temperatures became cooler. No new snow.

Snowpack

Below treeline the surface snow on westerlies is a hard mostly supportable crust. Northerly is entirely faceted and shallow. Northerly-facing near treeline slopes are incredibly weak. The snow depth (HS) is generally around 2 ft. The last week or so of high pressure and clear skies has really taken its toll on the snowpack on shady slopes. Any signs of a strong snowpack that we saw in early November is gone. Facets near the ground are now small-grained depth hoar crystals and immediately above this layer is a knife hard crust (see snowpit). Although the structure of this snowpack is poor, the snowpack stability is very good as it is hard to find a slab that spans across a slope or terrain feature.