Sawatch
SnowpackBo Torrey, Jason Konigsberg · Nov 13, 2020 · Sawatch
Weather
Partly cloudy skies. Light winds in drainage bottom with the occasional gust. Moderate winds along the ridge lines.
Snowpack
The information that we set out to target today was how much, if any, old October snow exists on east aspects near and above treeline. What we found was very minimal old October snow on east-facing slopes. On one east-facing slope, we did find 7 cm of very small, basal facets (.25 mm) but they were almost moist. There also wasn't much of a hardness difference from the basal layer and the soft slab above. On north and northeast facing slopes, where the snow had been effected by the wind, the slab was stiff enough to be reactive in snowpit tests. We had a few localized collapses and large cracks. The distribution of the slab is still pockety and tapers off quickly just down from ridgetop or on cross-loaded feature. We found the same 10 cm thick fist-hard layer of basal facets that is found on many northerly slopes in the state. In areas where the slab was not effected by the wind, it was really soft and we did not get results in our snowpit tests.