Supportable Corn Conditions on the South Side of Jakes

Sunshine, warm air temperatures, and light winds had caused enough melting for 1 to 2 inches of soft corn snow to form on SE-S-SW aspects of Jakes Peak by 10:30 am. This snow rested on a supportable layer of consolidated melt-freeze snow. As we skinned up the snow continued to soften but the wet snow never got deeper than 2 to 3 inches. The supportable crust remained supportable and did not show signs of melting all the way through even around exposed rocks and bushes. By the time we left the area around 1:30 conditions were still supportable with still only 2 to 3 inches of wet surface snow. Some clouds moved into the area around 1 pm and seemed to cool things off a bit. We did not see any loose wet snow instabilities during our tour. Looking off into Desolation we could see shiny surfaces glinting in the sun on some exposed E and NE slopes. 

Photo 1: 1 to 2 inches of corn on a supportable surface at 11:15 am on a S aspect.

Photo 2: 2 to 3 inches of corn snow on a supportable surface at 12:15 on the same S aspect.

Photo 3: Cloud cover moved into the area around 1 pm and you can still see sunlight glinting off of exposed crusts in the distance.

Photo 4: Smoke cloud with a flat top showing the height of the morning's inversion.