Forecaster Observation - Red Meadow vicinity, Whitefish Range

Location Name: 
Forecaster Observation - Red Meadow vicinity, Whitefish Range
Region: 
Whitefish Range - Northern (north of Coal Creek)
Date and time of observation: 
Fri, 01/27/2017 - 12:00
Location Map: 

Red Flags: 
Observation made by: Forecaster
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

We toured in the northern Whitefish Range with the goals of determining: the January 19 rain crust distribution, weak layers in the snowpack and amount of new surface snow.

  • The January 19 rain crust was approximately 1" thick and 1F hard below 5600'. The rain crust was not present above this elevation.
  • A thick (12-18") layer of depth hoar was found in both our north and south facing pits. This layer is rounding and becoming stronger (4F+ hard) since our last visit to this area 2 weeks ago.
  • We did not find any obvious weak layers in the mid-pack in the 2 locations that we dug pits.
  • At upper elevations there was 2-3" of new snow that sat on top of a 3" dense slab (1F hard). We believe this slab was created by the warm wet weather of January 19. This slab capped a thin layer of facets that was visible to the eye in our pit wall. On our ascent and descent this slab broke easily on the facets. Propagation was minimal on our ascent and descent. During stability tests this layer broke easily but did not propagate (ECTN 3, ECTN 4 and CTE3). 
  • This area showed a relatively thin snowpack at all elevations.
Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

January 27, 2017 Surface instabilities

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Light (Twigs in motion)
Precipitation: 
Air temperature trend: 
Cooling
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: 
Activity: 
Skiing