Sun Cups and Patchy Snow Cover on Castle Peak

Location Name: 
Castle Peak
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Fri, 04/18/2014 - 12:00
Location Map: 
United States
39° 21' 41.6052" N, 120° 21' 44.4564" W
See map: Google Maps
US



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

Today's refreeze lasted slightly longer. The snowpack on SE aspects remained supportable until 12:30 pm. After that point boot-top deep wet snow existed on the sun-exposed E-SE-S-SW aspects. The northerly aspects were firm and icy this morning. By 12:30 they had also started to soften. Significant melting has occurred in this area and large areas of exposed ground existed on the Castle Peak ridgeline. Sun cups have also begun to form on all sun exposed aspects in this area.

Photo 1: Boot top deep wet snow on a SE aspect at 8000 ft. at the coordinates attached to this observation.

Photo 2: Sun cups on an open NE aspect at 7800 ft.

Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Cloud Cover: 
50% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Light
Precipitation: 
None
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
More detailed information about the weather: 

Convective cumulonimbus clouds began forming around mid day. No signs of precip or thunder when I left the area @ 1pm.