Observations from Castle Peak and Andesite Ridge

Location Name: 
Castle Peak and Andesite Ridge
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sat, 02/21/2015 - 11:30
Location Map: 
United States
39° 21' 2.2788" N, 120° 21' 59.8284" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Obvious avalanche path
Observation made by: Forecaster
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Similar to other areas, significant melting has occurred in this area over the last week. Large areas of exposed ground now interrupt snow cover on SW facing slopes that had continuous snow cover 6 days ago. Sun exposed aspects with snow held soft corn snow on top of supportable melt freeze snow starting at about 10:30 am. These slopes remained supportable past 1 pm. No wet snow instabilities or deep wet snow was observed today. The northerly aspects remained frozen all day long. 

Photo 1: Diminishing coverage on the SW side of Castle.

Photo 2: 2 inches of corn snow on a E aspect at around 8000 ft on Andesite Ridge @ 11:30 am.

Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Cloud Cover: 
Clear
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Light
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
North
More detailed information about the weather: 

Mostly clear skies with some scattered clouds starting to develop in the afternoon.