Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Not much to report yet. Snow is thin, around 28 cm. XC ski trails have enough to ski, but use caution on the downhills. There are a lot of stumps, rocks, logs, etc buried just below the surface. Widespread breakable crust, varying in thickness from around 2cm at 4000' to less than 1cm with 2-3 cm of unconsolidated snow on top of the breakable crust around 5000-5400'. Recent weather patterns have caused the surface snow grains to begin rounding. Faceted snow grains were discovered under the breakable crust in well-shaded north facing areas. Skied slopes less than 30 degrees. Spoke to a couple skiers who skied off the NE side of Diamond Head and they said the snow was thin and they used a fair amount of kick turns to get down the steeper areas higher up because of the thin coverage.