Observations from Donner Pass

Location Name: 
Donner Pass
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sat, 02/27/2016 - 13:30
Location Map: 
United States
39° 18' 52.8588" N, 120° 19' 24.4812" W
See map: Google Maps
US



Observation made by: Guide at Tahoe Mountain School
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Snow depth and surface conditions were highly variable and aspect dependent.  South aspects at 6800' had 5cm of corn snow on top of a supportable MF crust with an average snow depth of 85cm.  Wind loaded east aspects at the same elevation had a wet snow surface on top of 35cm of fine grain <.5mm rounded snow on top of a MF crust.  At 7200' on north aspects we probed a snow depth of 289cm with a 3mm frozen MF crust on the snow surface.  Below the surface crust was 50 cm of wind deposited fine grain <.5mm rounded snow with a resistance near the surface of fist and one finger at the 50cm depth.  Below the wind deposited snow was a thick layer of MF that continued below the depth of our pit which was 100cm deep.  We observed no signs of instability during our tour.   We did see old avalanche debris 60cm to 90cm deep on north aspect below and skiers left of the Poop Chute most likely from 2/18.   

Weather Observations
Cloud Cover: 
75% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Air temperature trend: 
Cooling
Wind Direction: 
Southwest