Observations from Underwood

Location Name: 
Underwood
Region: 
Bear Valley Area
Date and time of observation: 
Fri, 02/15/2013 - 16:00
Location Map: 
United States
38° 30' 24.282" N, 120° 0' 24.5232" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Rapid warming
Obvious avalanche path
Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Pit: Although crust/facet combos do exist in this area, very supporable vertical percolation tubes interrupt the faceted layers, preventing collapse with compression tests or propagation with PSTs. The faceted layer nearer the surface has smaller perc tubes with the deeper faceted layer containing perc tubes of solid ice over 20mm in diameter. This matches well with residents' reports of previous heavy and prolonged rainfall events coinciding with the formation of ice layers. Note that an impenetrable ice layer prevented excavation beyond 90cm, though aggressive probing nearby showed an HS of 270cm.

Pic: Solar aspects with moderate sun cupping. Ski pen was limited to 10cm due to supportable ice layer.

Some NW aspects near ridgelines show evidence of previous wind loading, though these wind slabs were limited in size and depth, and have begun wet metamophism, with no signs of instabilities.

Discontinuous though skiable snow below 7,000ft with patchy snow below 6,000ft.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
Clear
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Calm
Precipitation: 
None
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Wind Direction: 
Accumulation rate: 
None
More detailed information about the weather: