Aspen

Snowpack

Brian McCall · Dec 16, 2012 · Aspen

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Weather

Morning hours-Calm winds, mild temps, obscured skies with a few breaks of sun. Snowfall started around 1pm at S-1. By 2pm snowfall rates increased to S3 near the ridge top. NW wind increased late afternoon as well.

Snowpack

Near and below treeline, snowpack still very shallow on S,SW,W facing terrain. HS average on these aspects about 15 cm and most of that is storm snow from the past 7 days. Snowpack begins to have more continuous coverage above 11,000ft. Near treeline on W and NW facing terrain, we found HS averaged 40 cm. General structure was recent storm snow in the upper half of the snowpack, mid pack persistent slab, and lower snowpack depth hoar.