Professional Observation - Lost Johnny Creek, Swan Range

Location Name: 
Professional Observation - Lost Johnny Creek, Swan Range
Region: 
Swan Range - East Side (Hungry Horse Reservoir access)
Date and time of observation: 
Fri, 01/20/2017 - 13:30
Location Map: 

Red Flags: 
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Obvious avalanche path
Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

We dug two pits today, one on a SW aspect at 6400' and another on a NNW aspect at 6300'.   Both pits did harbor buried surface hoar ~40cm from the surface which proved minimally reactive in stability tests, but did activate with hard force in multiple tests.

SW Pit Results: ECTN16@170 on buried surface hoar, CTM13@195 Q3, CTM15@193 Q3, CTM19@189 Q3, CTH27@170 Q2 on buried surface hoar.

NNW Pit Results: ECTN13@190, ECTN@165 on buried surface hoar, CTH23@190 Q3, CTH29@165 Q2 on buried surface hoar.

We also found multiple rain crusts within the top 10 cm of the snowpack on all aspects.  The crusts were thicker on Southern aspecs and at lower elevations.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Any other comments about the observation or links to outside pages that have more info on the observation: 

While travelling throughout the Lost Johnny Drainage today, we did not observe any recent avalache activity. 

Weather Observations
Cloud Cover: 
25% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Calm (No air motion)
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Activity: 
Snowmobiling
High Temp. (C): 
-1