Northwest Avalanche Center

Observation: Public

All Observations

Observation Details

Name:
Matt Primomo
Observation Date:
November 29, 2020
Submitted:
November 29, 2020
Zone or Region:
East Central
Activity:
Location:
N Fork Teanaway

Signs of Unstable Snow

None reported

Observations

Overcast sky in the AM with mid level clouds, breaking up by 1-2pm then mostly sunny. Light breeze from the west, with no blowing snow observed.

Found surface hoar on all open slopes and aspects above about 5000ft, and in valley bottoms at lower elevations. Shaded slopes held some small near surface facets as well. Surface hoar was 3-10mm, averaged about 8mm. The only places it wasn't growing was in the thicker forests with dense canopy.

This all sits over a mixed bag of previous surfaces: Firm windboard in the alpine, a thin rain crust below about 5.500ft, and suncrust on SE-SW. We did find some soft snow left in the NTL and BTL, mainly in shaded and sheltered glades, which made for some nice skiing with surface hoar to speed things up. -Matt Primomo

Media

NE at 5,400ft
Surface hoar on steep southerlies in the alpine. S at 6,500ft
Surface hoar growing over a previous wind drift. N at 6,200ft
Chunks of snow slid easily over surface hoar on windboard from the skintrack. N at 6,400ft
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