Wet snow on Mt. Judah and Donner Peak

Location Name: 
Mt. Judah
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sun, 03/17/2013 - 15:00
Location Map: 
United States
39° 18' 24.6276" N, 120° 18' 54.5112" W
See map: Google Maps
US


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

4-6 inches of wet snow had formed on the E-SE-S aspects by 3 pm today. This wet snow existed on top of more supportable melt freeze snow in most areas and ski cuts on steep test slopes did not cause anything more than small roller balls. On the most sun exposed E-SE aspects more wet snow existed and I sunk above my boot tops in a few areas.

Photo 1: Wet snow deeper than my boot top on a low angle SE aspect at 7800 ft.

On the northerly aspects, a firm and frozen melt freeze crust existed above softer still moist snow. The March 6th crust did exist in the snowpack and the snow around has rounded significantly and remains moist from warming up a over the last few days. While this layer remains moist it is still soft and weak.

Video: ECTN on the soft layer of moist snow that was once facets below the March 6th crust. In this series of test I had 2 ECTN's and 1 ECTP.

Snowpack photos: 
Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

2013-03-17-Donner 013

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Cloud Cover: 
Clear
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
West
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: