Wet Snow on Castle Peak

Location Name: 
Castle Peak
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Thu, 04/10/2014 - 11:00
Location Map: 
United States
39° 21' 25.4304" N, 120° 21' 55.5768" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Rapid warming
Observation made by: Forecaster
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

A thin refreeze did occur on Castle Peak last night on slopes open to the sky above. The warm sunshine quickly melted this refreeze on the E-SE-S aspects. By 10am stepping off my skis resulted in sinking into wet unssuportable snow up to my mid shins on E-SE aspects below 8500 ft. The more westerly aspects (SW-W) remained more supportable. By 11:30 am the SW aspects had 1-2 inches of corn snow on top of a thin but still supportable melt-freeze crust. In tree covered areas where the snowpack could not radiate heat out into space the refreeze was either non-existant or very thin. The snow in these areas remained wet and unssuportable on all aspects below 8000 ft.

Photo: Sinking into my mid shin on an E aspect at the coordinates attached to this observation.

 

Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
Clear
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Calm
Air temperature trend: 
Warming