Observation: Turnagain

Location: Sunburst wx station

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

We toured up to the weather station to make some adjustments on the new web cam. We stopped on the way to look at the very large wet slab that released on Wednesday. There was a supportable crust that was a little over an inch thick at the parking lot, and 3-4″ thick at the top (SW aspect, 3800′). Things started softening up around 1:30 p.m. in the alpine. The low elevation solar aspects were punchy and unsupportable on our way back down at 3:00 p.m.

Weather & Snow Characteristics
Please provide details to help us determine the weather and snowpack during the time this observation took place.
Weather

Mostly sunny skies, with increasing clouds in the afternoon. Winds were light out of the east and getting stronger through the day. No precipitation while we were out.

Snow surface

Supportable crust all the way down to the road in the morning. Crust was about an inch thick at road level and 3-4" thick on a SW aspect at 3800'. Things started to soften up around 1:30 p.m.

Snowpack

I dug a quick pit at the top on a SW aspect at 3800'. The current surface is a 3-4" thick crust, sitting on top of a 2" thick layer of large wet grains. The rest of the upper 3' of the snowpack was moist. Hand hardness was progressively increasing from 1F just below the crust to P+ at the bottom of the pit (3' deep).

I stuck a full probe in the bottom of my pit and never found the ground. This location likely had seen previous wind loading.

Photos & Video
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