Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

There was a 6-15" layer of newer snow overlying the ice of last month. Fridays sun was not enough to do anything more than a weak crust. Today the Mtn saw only a couple of hours of weak sunlight, diffused by high clouds, before the storm started to move in mid -day. Temps stayed below freezing all day from 2600' to the summit (8,250'). Wind were only about 20 mph below 8,000', but from 8,000-8,250' SSW winds built from 35 mph in the early morning to 55 mph in the afternoon. The high winds were stripping huge amounts of newer snow off the top of the mountain and blowing it north over the rim into the crater. By afternoon, channels more that a foot deep were eroded into the newer snow.

Cloud dropped from 11,000 to 5,000' by 1PM and there was light snow staring at 1:00 PM that fell from the summit to 2600'. By 4:30 PM, there was an inch of new wet snow at 2,600'