Observation: NWAC Forecaster

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Weather Summary

The temperature warmed from 20F in the morning to 32F by early afternoon. The day began as overcast/obscured, and cleared to scattered skies by about 11:30.

Snowpack Observations

I was in the Phantom Slide area all morning. Snow surfaces were very firm, although in the trees along the short stretch of trail we traveled you could punch in about 15 centimeters in some areas into loose dry granular snow, as the surface crust was irregular.

In the open avalanche path, I found the least disturbed nearby area and attempted to dig a pit. There was a solid 40cm knife hard crust overlying moist melt forms. The snowpack in that location was well locked up and was very bumpy. I didn't find any surface hoar, surface faceting, or faceting between crust layers as it was one solid block. Digging a small pit was a challenge with such hard snow.

When the sun came out you could feel the warmth, but there was no surface softening which occurred in the time I was there (less than an hour after the sunlight shone unfiltered).