Well hello there surface hoar

Toured in the Apgar Range to catalog rain crust within the snowpack and evaluate their likelihood to propagate.

• 1/9 and 1/18 rain crust observed below 5400'
• Above 5400', 1/9 and 1/18 rain crust absent in snow pit
• Rime event...aka the "shutdown crust" was not observed during our tour
• Graupel (1-3 mm) found approx. 18 cm below the surface and we hypothesized that it fell at the same time the rime event occurred in the Whitefish and Swan Ranges on 1/20
• 2-4 mm surface hoar (down approx. 30 cm) produced ECTPs with moderate force and Q2 shears in compression test
• No surface cracking or audible collapses observed during our tour