Red Lake Peak Observations

Location Name: 
Red Lake Peak
Region: 
Carson Pass Area
Date and time of observation: 
Wed, 02/05/2014 - 13:15
Location Map: 
United States
38° 43' 13.5444" N, 119° 58' 29.0568" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Terrain Trap
Observation made by: Forecaster
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

A thick rain crust existed below 25 to 35 cm (10 to 12 in) of soft recent snow up to at least 9500 ft. on Red Lake Peak today. This upper layer of soft snow still did not show any slab characteristics in most places. Snowpit data and hand pits indicated that the upper snowpack  in this area is not weakening as quickly as the recent snow seems to be in other areas. Below the rain crust about 50 cm of large grained moist snow still remains. This moist snow used to be facets. Rain from last week percolated through the snowpack and destroyed those old facets leaving weak wet snow in their place. This layer still has not refrozen completely. Snowpit data indicated that even though this moist layer remains weak, actually transmitting enough force through the rain crust to cause it to break would be very difficult right now in this area.

In areas prone to wind loading some small and intermittent wind slabs did exist. The largest of these slabs was about 6m (20 ft) wide and extended downslope for about 6m; however, it was only about 5 to 7cm (2 to 3 in) thick. Most of these small wind slabs did not respond to a skier's weight unless they were first undercut.

Photo: A crack in a thin wind slab on a NE aspect at 9500 ft. This wind slab was previously undercut.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
25% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
None
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: 

During the morning small periods of stronger winds transported some snow along the upper ridgelines. By the afternoon the snow transport seemed to have ended.