Observation: NWAC Forecaster

All Observations

Basic Information

Observation Details

Observation Date:
March 11, 2022
Submitted:
March 11, 2022
Observer:
NWAC Forecaster - Dallas Glass
Zone or Region:
West South
Location:
Crystal Backcounty (All aspects near treeline)

Signs of Unstable Snow

Recent Avalanches? 
None Observed
Cracking? 
None Experienced
Collapsing? 
None Experienced

Media/Attachments

Snow profile from the Crystal backcountry.
Weak facets just above the Early March crust. These were found repeatably on NW-N-NE aspects near and above treeline.
Wet sticky snow like this lets you know the surface may be becoming unstable.
Human triggered rollerballs in shallow but wet sticky snow.
Piles of frozen avalanche debris still make for difficult travel.

Advanced Information

Weather Summary

Cloud Cover:
Mostly Cloudy
Temperature:
39°F
Wind:
Light , W
New/Recent Snowfall:
1 inch from overnight

Mostly cloudy skies, warm temperatures, and filtered sunshine made for very muggy weather. A light breeze could be felt at ridgeline, but disappeared lower on the slopes.

A very wet inch of snow fell overnight (Thurs-Fri) above about 4500ft.

No new avalanches were observed.

You can see many shallowly buried piles of avalanche debris from the last atmospheric river and resulting avalanche cycle.

Snowpack Observations

The warm humid weather caused the snow surface to become wet and sticky on nearly all aspects to at least 6900 ft. Looking into the snow this moist warm layer only extended down 1-3cm and the underlying snow remained dry. I was able to trigger numerous rollerballs on steep planar slopes, but none of them resulted in loose wet avalanches.

Southerly: Only 2-4" of snow sits over the Early March crust. Since this snow became wet today, I'd expect a breakable crust on these slopes.

Northerly: 5-7" of snow from several different storms sits on the Early March crust. 1-1.5mm facets were found just above this crust on NW-NE slopes in multiple snow profiles. While the surface became moist on these shaded aspects, the underlying snow remained dry. HS: 230-260cm

E and W: On east and west slopes, a very thin breakable crust often capped the small facets creating a sandwich with the much thicker and stronger Early March crust.

Bare ground and exposed rocks were seen on many S-W ridgelines. Snowpacks in these windswept locations were observed to be very thin to non-existent.

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