Front Range
AvalancheRyan Lewthwaite · Apr 6, 2020 · Front Range
Weather
A warm morning with temperatures above freezing at 36F warming to 43F. Winds were light to moderate out of the southwest without blowing snow. Just a few clouds and plenty of sunshine.
Snowpack
A solid refreeze overnight left a semi-breakable surface crust. This crust degraded on all aspects except north where it stayed firm past 1:00pm. Above treeline in a northwest aspect the snow is shallow and dry. Hard wind packed layers rest over loose dry persistent grains. The weak grains comprise over 2/3 of the snowpack and are larger grained. Below treeline on a north aspect the snowpack is deep and moist. More surface melting was occurring and it was later in the day when I arrived. Wet snow could be found over 6cm in the pack, but not saturated enough to pool on the melt-freeze crust at 132cm. Stability tests did not give any alarming reports of instability. Surface snow was wet and loose by 1pm on most aspects. (ECTX repeated)
Avalanche
No new avalanches