Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

A near perfect day in the Tatoosh with filtered sunlight providing great visibility but having limited impact on the snow surface for the South facing slopes. Wind affected snow was surprisingly challenging to find although evident in isolated locations. For the most part there was a consistent ~25-30cm of new snow over the rain crust making for great skiing on all aspects. Only at the very top and in very open areas was this slightly less with a bit of stiffening in a layer ~5 cm below the most recent snow. We also observed a few locations with evidence of wind deposited snow or wind affected surfaces (the top of a NW-facing gully that channeled the NW winds and the very upper reaches of Foss Peak). Numerous hand shears on both the N-facing and S-facing sides produced mostly consistent stubborn planar shears just above the crust. A small number of shears on N-facing aspects remained unconsolidated enough not to produce a fracture.