Steamboat & Flat Tops

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg, Joe Messina · Dec 18, 2015 · Steamboat & Flat Tops

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Weather

Obscured sky all day with riming from 7am to 11am. Temp taken from Tower Snotel. Moderate west winds in exposed areas decreased through the day. The Steamboat zone received between 1.5-2" of SWE since 12/13. Snowfall during this period was between 20-30".

Snowpack

A thin rime crust deposited on snow surface Friday morning. It was widespread.--Northerly aspects snow depth ranging from 140-180cms. Southerly aspects are still thin and have facet/crust combos under the last weeks snow.--- There was no wind slab development in the area we traveled.--- Compression tests show there are still some minor instabilities in storm snow but nothing widespread and unlikely to propagate.---Persistent slab structure is still concerning. The only thing consistent that we observed in the snowpack was weak snow at the ground.