Upside Down Storm Snow and Buried Surface Hoar on Andesite

Location Name: 
Andesite Ridge
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Tue, 01/19/2016 - 12:00
Location Map: 
United States
39° 21' 0.7164" N, 120° 21' 44.0676" W
US


Red Flags: 
Recent avalanche activity
Whumphing noises, shooting cracks, or collapsing
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain

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

In sheltered below treeline areas, the most recent storm snow consisted of a heavy layer of wet snow on top of a lighter layer of storm snow. Some skier triggered cracking occurred when the lower lighter layer of snow failed to support a skier and the heavy snow above it. This heavier layer measured about 6 inches in depth in below treeline areas. Wet heavy snow from this storm and other recent storms existed in the top 2 ft of the snowpack. Below that level the snowpack remained cold and dry and at least 2 (Jan 9th and Jan. 13)  surface hoar layers were identifiable in compression tests. The Jan. 9th and Jan. 13th layers were about 100-110 cm down. Snowpit tests did not yield unstable results on these layers. However, a below treeline lower angle (30 -35 degree) slope had "shattered" but not slid. It is likely that this occurred in the last day or two, but we chose not to do a profile on this fracture since it was below and connected to a steep slope above it (@ the GPS coordinated attached to this ob).

Photo 1: Skier triggered crack resulting from the upside down snowpack on a steep (42 degree) test slope in below treeline terrain.

Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
Rain
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: 

Rain line hovered around 8000 ft today with rain on the below treeline slopes for most of the day.