Widespread surface hoar on Silver Peak

We went back to Silver Peak today to see how wind slab development had progressed over the past 24 hours. Wind slabs had advanced, but the more interesting observation was the 5 to 15 mm surface hoar that covered all of the N to NE below treeline and near treeline avalanche terrain we traveled. Surface hoar had even formed on the ridgetop and on wind sculpted and wind textured features formed over the previous 36 hours. This is something to monitor for possible burial on Sunday/Monday.

We could see plumes of blowing snow in the distance on Dick's Peak (Desolation Wilderness) but experienced calm to light wind conditions at 8,000' on Silver Peak. During this same time, period wind on the top of nearby Squaw Valley (8,700') was blowing 25-35 mph, suggesting that winds at/below 8,000' had decoupled.

Ridgetop areas on Silver Peak were much more wind affected than they had been 24 hours prior. Wind slabs in leeward areas on N aspects were firmer and extended further down slope compared to yesterday's observations. Minor cracking was observed around the edges of wind slabs. Slab thickness was still fairly thin at 4 to 12 inches. A testpit dug adjacent to the testpit from yesterday gave ECTN and PST 100/100 results on the 1F hard surface wind slab.