Observation: Avalanche Professional

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Weather Summary

Relatively warm temps on solar and polar aspects. Calm conditions allowed solar slopes to warm and soften from an overnight freeze. Due to short daylight and shadowing from higher terrain lower elevations often had cooler weather related snow effects. Where as higher elevations had warmer temperature patterns.

Avalanche Observation Comments:

No recent or old avalanches observed. No slab debris observed. Old roller balls in isolated steep solar terrain with high albedo. ie rocks or trees.

Snowpack Observations

Below 5,000': Trace amounts of snow in open spaces and no snow in the trees. Above 4,400' the snowpack grew to a whopping 35cm (14") While this area is well below threshold the snowpack consisted of settled Decomposing Fragments (DF), Faceted Crystals Surface (FCsf), and thin Melt Freeze Crust (MFcr) or .

Above 5,000'-6,500': NW- W aspects, HS up to 150cm (59"), avg 85cm (33") Surface conditions were a mixed density and thickness wind slab and wind effected snow. Where hard slabs (P) did not exist orange peel textured wind effect (4F-1F) was present. Over the Holiday weekend no new wind transported snow was observed. Old ski tracks still visible. General Impression: With the variety of wind effect and wind slab surfaces no reactivity was observed and surface forms confirm the NWAC forecast as variable with very little surface facets due to redistribution. Where soft snow was found depths were redistribution and hard to read.

S Aspects above 6,000: HS up to 40cm, Overnight freeze gradually gave way to solar warming and moist to wet snow.
General Impression: Temperature effects in the alpine were a surprise because of recent inversion and cold valleys.

No surface hoar observed NTL/ATL on Monday November 27th. Most surface hoar if any was observed BTL in cold air sinks near lakes or creeks.