Front Range
SnowpackAustin DiVesta · Dec 2, 2021 · Front Range
Weather
Sunny warm temperatures rose into the mid-40s by noon . A light west wind along ridgetops, but mininual winds near treeline and below treeline.
Snowpack
The snowpack is shallow, faceted, and primarily weak on north through east to southeast aspects. On a southeast slope, snow was approximately 40cm deep. The snow surface became wet as temperatures climbed well into the 40s at 12,000ft around noon today. I targeted a heavily wind-loaded area on a northeast slope and found a snow height of 148cm. I was surprised to see that the structure wasn’t nearly as faceted as I had thought. Still, there was faceting happening within that snowpit. I moved to an east aspect below the ridgeline. I found a much weaker snowpack that consisted of less snow (~90cm) and much weaker faceted snow throughout the pit. Snowpit observations did not produce significant results. See snowpits for more details. South through west slopes are still lacking snow at this point above treeline, but once you start to get near treeline and below treeline, you can find patchy areas still holding snow.