Observations from Elephant's Back

Location Name: 
Elephant's Graveyard
Region: 
Carson Pass Area
Date and time of observation: 
Thu, 03/23/2017 - 23:00
Location Map: 
United States
38° 40' 42.7512" N, 119° 58' 59.952" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Rapid warming
Obvious avalanche path
Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Pic 1: In wind sheltered areas, up to 40cm of cold, dry snow observed on top of old melt freeze crust. Easy, clean, and planar Shovel Tilt Test about 1cm above old/new interface. In areas less sheltered from the wind, cold, dry snow was much more shallow.

Pic 2: Deep holes opening up around trees. This one was over 8ft deep.

Pic 3: Large stellars and plates were on the surface and easy to confuse with surface hoar, although surface hoar was also present and widespread, from Hope Valley to the summit of Elephant's Back.

Pic 4: Ski cut at top of Elephant's Graveyard produced a shallow slab that didn't propagate far and tapered to insignificant depth just downlope. Other cuts adjacent to this produced similar results.

Snow surfaces remained cold in the morning around Carson Pass. Upon our exit along Forestdale Rd around 12pm, low elevation sunny slopes were becoming wet and sticky. No signs of instabilities were observed today, though conditions were ideal for Loose Wet right around the time of our departure.

Snowpack photos: 
Any other comments about the observation or links to outside pages that have more info on the observation: 

Crescent Moon is wide enough for a GS course, and a crew got amazing looking turns down it. Still lots and lots of snow around Carson Pass.

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
Clear
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Light
Precipitation: 
None
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
West
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: