Snowpit from Castle Peak Area

Location Name: 
Andesite Ridge
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sat, 11/20/2010 - 11:10
Location Map: 
United States
39° 20' 40.776" N, 120° 21' 20.124" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

16-18'' of new snow in the Castle Peak area.  Most of this new snow fell on top of dirt and rocks below 7500' and on all solar aspects with a shallow snow base on NE-NW aspects above 7500'.  The bond between the new storm snow and old snow interface showed no signs of weakness.  There were 2 main weaknesses within the storm snow neither showing very clean results.  Heavy sluffing within the top 20cm storm snow on steeper terrain >35 degrees.  My snowprofile location had very little previous wind loading and my observations were not in heavily wind loaded areas that may have been present at higher elevation and more exposed terrain.  Travel is still limited in some terrain with tough trail breaking conditions hitting rocks/bushes/logs on the up and down.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Light
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: