Near Surface Facets at Mid Elevations

We made a trip out to Meeks Ridge today for snowpack mapping. We specifically targeted NW-N-NE aspect near to below treeline terrain with wind protection at around 7,500'-8,000'. In this area we found the expected upper snowpack structure of faceted snow below the thin Jan 4 rain crust (rain event Jan 1, buried Jan 4). There is no problematic stability associated with this faceted snow and crust at this time due to the lack of an overlying slab. We are watching it closely as a potential wide propagating weak layer as new snow loads on top of it over the coming 1-2 weeks (per the current weather forecast).

Directly below this thin breakable Jan 4 rain crust, F- hard faceted snow of 2mm was noted. This layer becomes less faceted and increases to F hard moving down to the Dec 12 rain crust. Excellent bonding to the Dec 12 rain crust was observed here as in numerous other locations. The facets directly below the Jan 4 crust are the layer of interest/concern. Without an overlying slab at this time, this layer is difficult to test. Incremental new snow loading this week is expected to allow for easier use of snowpit tests to assess this layer prior to any large storm events.