Waterhouse Peak Observations

We toured up to Waterhouse Peak to monitor snowpack conditions in this area.  Recent NE winds have scoured most exposed terrain, but unconsolidated snow continues to exist in these wind protected below treeline areas.  Around 2'' of soft snow existed on top of a firm crust towards the bottom of the peak with up to 4 to 5'' at the top of the peak with a softer old snow surface.  Limited snow exists along the southern side of ridgelines with little signs of newly formed wind slabs from the recent NE winds.  The snow surface did not have snow melt at 11am at around 9000' on SE aspects, but did show a sun crust starting to form on these aspects. 

Weak faceted snow that formed during the record dry Jan/Feb timeframe remains in this area.  This crust/facet combination at this location is at the weaker end of the spectrum that we have seen throughout the forecast area from the Jan/Feb dry spell.  It is currently not a problem because of limited snow above the weak layer and no slab at this point.  We would need a real storm to load this layer to create a future avalanche problem.