Corn, Soft Snow, and Crusts in the Slab Cliffs Area

Location Name: 
Slab Cliffs
Region: 
Mount Rose Area
Date and time of observation: 
Tue, 02/06/2018 - 13:00
Location Map: 
United States
39° 18' 0.5976" N, 119° 57' 11.1096" W
See map: Google Maps
US



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

A wide range of surface conditions existed in the Incline Lake Peak and Slab Cliffs area. On the open north facing aspects cold, soft, unconsolidated surface snow still lingers. Frozen crusts and breakable crusts existed in areas with tree cover or more sun-exposure. On exposed N-NE aspects near ridgelines, NE winds had scoured some of the surface snow leaving more firm wind packed snow behind. Snowpit tests targetting the old persistent weak layers on these northerly aspects yielded inconsistent results (ECTN on a N aspect @ 9600 ft, 2 x ECTN and 2 x ECTP on a N aspect at 8600 ft).

On sun-exposed SE-S-SW aspects, corn snow conditions existed with 2 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in) of soft wet snow resting on top of a supportable base. On E and SE aspects this wet snow rested on top of snow that had not fully transitioned to melt-freeze snow. No signs of wet snow instabilities were observed. 

Photo 1: Wind scoured exposed NE aspect at 9600 ft. 

Photo 2: Corn snow conditions on a SW aspect at 9600 ft. 

Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
Clear
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
Northeast
More detailed information about the weather: 

NE winds strong enough to scour slopes near ridgelines occurred during the morning then calmed down in the afternoon.