Gunnison
Snowpackeric murrow · Jan 17, 2023 · Gunnison
Weather
Light snowfall late morning through mid-afternoon that amounted to an inch or so. Winds remained light with very little evidence of drifting overnight or during the day. I occasionally was able to hear stronger winds at the ridge top. Storm total at 230 pm was 17? with 1.3? snow water equivalent at 10,700 feet.
Snowpack
Shovel Tilt Test’s revealed easy results in the top 6 inches and moderate results at the base of the storm snow. ECTN easy score at base of storm snow but no propagating results. Cracking in the new snow was limited to a ski length at most and was typically in top 6 inches with a few harder cuts cracking to base of the storm snow. Loose Dry avalanches were easy to initiate in the low-density snow. Test slopes produced no signs of slab instability. I looked in several places for buried surface hoar and did not find it. Snow depths in a wind-affected area at 10,600 feet ranged from 200 cm to 300+ cm.