Observation: NWAC Observer

All Observations

Basic Information

Observation Date:

March 3, 2023

Submitted:

March 3, 2023

Observer:

NWAC Observer - Willie Webster

Zone or Region:

East North

Location:

Gilbert (NE, E, and S below treeline )

Recent Avalanches?

None Observed

Cracking?

Isolated

Collapsing?

Isolated

The layered snow pack. Nothing jumped out in column tests, but we're keeping an eye on some faceted snow below the 2/12 crust aka valentines crust.

In specific places like wind lips on ridge lines we could get some small wind slab releases.

Small area wumphing collapses at 4800' indicates some weak snow below the valentines day crust in some places

The snow preserved in the trees indicates that recent winds were not very strong here on a ridge at 5800'

During cloud breaks you could see signs of wind transported snow and small cornices, but not recent avalanches

The snow height at 3700' was about four feet

Advanced Information

Cloud Cover:

Mostly Cloudy

Temperature:

30°F

Wind:

Light , W

New/Recent Snowfall:

8" in in the last 24. 14" since the 25th.

The weather shifted throughout the day. Through the morning there were broken skies and warm temps just below freezing. Through the mid day temps dropped as snow came in, sometimes at nearly an inch of snow per hour. In the afternoon the skies cleared to the east.

Starting our day at around 3700' the height of snow was 130cm. About 7" of new snow sits on a crust. As we gained elevation the total height of snow and the amount of new storm snow deepened. Two days ago, near Whistler Mountain, I experienced some small wumphing collapses below the 2/12 crust at 4800'. Another observer also noted this weakness elsewhere but at similar elevation. Today, also at 4800' we had a small collapse on this layer. These probably don't indicate a current hazard, but it's worth keeping track of that layer for a time. For some reason, it seems to display some weak characteristics between 4500 and 5000 feet. We dug a pit at 4900'. Our column tests revealed no noteworthy instabilities. We did observe some slightly faceted below the 2/12 crust. 35cm of soft right-side-up snow makes up the top of the snow pack. On a treed ridge line at 6000' we managed to get some very small wind slabs to release with some vigorous ski cutting. These were small and low energy, but it's not hard to imagine more serious wind slab higher up in the right terrain features. Below treeline we experience some small dry loose sloughs and good skiing.

Problem	Location	Distribution	Sensitivity	Size	Comments
Wind Slab	N E S W	Isolated Specific Widespread	Unreactive Stubborn Reactive Touchy	D1 D1.5 D2 D2.5 D3 D3.5 D4 D4.5 D5	Layer Depth/Date: 35-55cm
Dry Loose	N E S W	Isolated Specific Widespread	Unreactive Stubborn Reactive Touchy	D1 D1.5 D2 D2.5 D3 D3.5 D4 D4.5 D5	Layer Depth/Date: 20cm

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