Observation: NWAC Forecaster

All Observations

Basic Information

Observation Details

Observation Date:
December 8, 2022
Submitted:
December 8, 2022
Observer:
NWAC Forecaster - Katie Warren
Zone or Region:
East Central
Location:
North Fork Teanaway (2700-6500ft all aspects)

Signs of Unstable Snow

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

Media/Attachments

Coverage is looking better at lower elevations on the east slopes.
Small cornices along the ridge indicating the west to east transport of snow.
Near ridges the west aspects were scoured down to rocks in many locations, while eastern aspects held significantly more snow.
Older wind drifts are covered by fresh snow.
At the upper elevations we found a wind stiffened layer of snow below the new snow. It slid off of this shovel tilt test with moderate force.
Profile from just below a ridge in the Teanaway at 6400ft on a NNE aspect.
Profile from a southern aspect at 5400ft in the Teanaway.

Advanced Information

Weather Summary

Cloud Cover:
Overcast
Temperature:
25°F
Wind:
Light
New/Recent Snowfall:
HST: 8-10cm

It was snowing (S-1) on and off throughout the day, and our snowmobiles accumulated a few cm of snow while we were skiing.
Calm winds down in the valley with some gusts reaching into the moderate range at ridgetops. Previous wind loading had occurred, but no notable transport during the day.

It was notable that a freezing fog descended on us in the afternoon, and we had a candy coating of ice by the time we returned to the sleds.

Snowpack Observations

We traveled on various aspects and dug to investigate PWL near the ground and around the 11/22 and 11/25 melt freeze crusts.

Southern aspects at 5400ft had approximately 90cm of snow. This mostly consisted of right side up storm snow from the past two weeks. There was a thin and fragile crust below today's 8cm of snow, which likely developed during a sunny period of time yesterday. Both the 11/22 and 11/25 crusts were present, but they are breaking down. Older facets, both near the ground and between the two crusts, were gaining strength, rounding, and produced no results in stability tests (CTNx2).

We also traveled to a NNE aspect just below the ridge at 6400ft. Here we found a snowpack depth of 155cm. Below the new snow, there was a 4F hard 10-15cm layer of wind packed snow. While we could feel this layer under our skis, it did not show any signs of instability. While deeper in this location, we found a similar snowpack structure and also had no results with stability tests (CTN, ECTX).