Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Today I headed up White River Canyon with the goal of assessing how last nights snowfall was sitting. Yesterday I was able to accompany Joe on his forecast where we found buried surface hoar in the snowpack. My goal was to see if this layer was still reactive now that a slab has formed.
I dug two separate pits on E facing aspects at 4500 and 5000 ft. While this layer was easy to spot yesterday, today it was invisible to the eye. I preformed an isolated column test at both locations and was able to get consistent fracturing 50-55cm deep within 8-10 hand taps. Both shovel tilt tests failed on isolation before I was even able to move my shovel at the same depth. Temperatures were actively warming at the time of observation and wet loose activity was observed on neighboring S facing aspects.