Forecaster Observation - McGinnis Creek, Southern Whitefish Range

Location Name: 
Forecaster Observation - McGinnis Creek, southern Whitefish Range
Region: 
Whitefish Range - Southern (south of Coal Creek)
Date and time of observation: 
Fri, 02/12/2016 - 11:00
Location Map: 

Red Flags: 
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Forecaster
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Wet snow surface up to 6000 feet with partially refrozen crust. Very shallow snowpack on windward, sunny slopes (45 cm-65 cm) and 250 cm on leeward and shaded slopes. Found remnant surface hoar 15-25 cm from the surface. Upper snowpack was a fairly homogenous (1 finger) 120 cm thick slab on a crust. We were unsure on the date of the prominent crust. At first we thought it was the late January but it seemed too deep so we hesitate to label it. Stability tests resulted in fractures using hard force on layer of buried surface hoar and a density change 45 cm from the surface. 

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Cloud Cover: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Light (Twigs in motion)
Precipitation: 
Rain
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: 

Very poor visibility.

Activity: 
Snowmobiling
Precip Rate: 
RL; light rain, up to 2.5mm of water/hour
High Temp. (C): 
1.3
Low Temp. (C): 
1.3