Observation: NWAC Forecaster

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Weather Summary

Snowing all day. At one point, there may have been a slight bit of mixed precipitation at Snow Lake. Visibility was low but got better as snow got more showery mid-morning. Out of the field by 12:00 but could notice that things were warming up.

Avalanche Observation Comments:

Took note of 15 very small shallow avalanches on the walk up toward the Divide. Most were less than 6" deep and isolated pockets. All were on unsupported slopes or convexities, many were south facing, but that was the general direction of our travel and within our visibility window.

Snowpack Observations

The upper snowpack was still not a cohesive enough slab for widespread issues during my time out today, but the setup is definitely there once the warm-up hits. Found buried surface hoar 25 cm down in my pit and it was reactive to small column tests. Extended column tests were inconclusive, but the layer did show some signs of propagation. There is still weak snow at the 2/19, Valentine's Day, and Late January Crusts. My gut feeling is that the Late January will not come into play during this cycle, but that the others could.