Rain & Graupel at Echo Lake

Location Name: 
Below Becker Ridge
Region: 
Echo Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sat, 01/16/2016 - 12:00
Location Map: 
United States
38° 49' 57.6516" N, 120° 2' 39.4116" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Rapid warming
Terrain Trap
Observation made by: Educator at Lake Tahoe Community College - Wilderness Education
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Rain fell until about 10:30am on Echo Summit. After 10:30am rain transitioned to graupel, with occasional light flurries of other new snow forms. Significant amounts of wet graupel accumulated, with the most common grauple being 3mm in size. Total accumulation of new snow (mostly graupel) from 10 - 4 was close to an inch. 

Photo 1: Open areas of snow showed runnels from overnight and morning rain. Top 10 cms of surface snow was wet and snow down to about 40 cms under the surface was moist. 

Photo 2: Very impressive snow bombs/snow shedding off of trees in the early afternoon, especially near windy ridge areas. Some of these bombs would likely have injured a person. 

Photo 3: Graupel

Photo 4: Wet graupel accumulating several cms deep.  

Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
75% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
Mixed rain and snow
Air temperature trend: 
Cooling
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: 

Observed winds were little lower than anticipated based on forecast.