Deeply buried facets on Silver Peak

Location Name: 
Silver Peak
Region: 
Cabin Creek, Deep Creek, or Pole Creek Area
Date and time of observation: 
Thu, 12/27/2012 - 14:00
Location Map: 
United States
39° 13' 23.7108" N, 120° 14' 36.7656" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Recent avalanche activity
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Obvious avalanche path
Observation made by: Forecaster
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

The persistent weak layers in have now been buried 180-200 cm below the surface in many wind loaded areas on Silver Peak. Tests on these deeply buried layers showed that if they break fractures can still travel along the weaknesses. Other data indicates that initiating a fracture in these deeply buried weak layers has become difficult due to the depth at which they are buried and the strength of the snow above them. Overall triggering an avalanche on one of these layers would be hard, but if it does break the resulting avalanche would be very large.

The 180-200 cm of snow above these old weak layers continues to gain strength and consolidate. Ski cut on test slopes did not produce any slope failures today. Some minor cracking did occur on wind loaded near and above treeline slopes.

Video: PST on the Dec. 2nd facet layer.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

20121227 Silver Peak ECT 40/200 end on Dec 2 facets.MOV

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Cloud Cover: 
50% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Calm
Precipitation: 
Air temperature trend: 
Cooling
Wind Direction: 
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: