Minimal blowing snow on Tamarack Peak.

Thick mid to high level cloud cover greeted us this morning at Tamarack Peak. The view in all directions this morning held this thick cloud cover. This cloud cover thinned a good bit around midday. Moderate speed SW winds were blowing light amounts of snow during the strongest gusts. This blowing snow was moving as saltation and was not depositing anywhere. Almost no blowing snow was observed along the ridgetops where high density snow surfaces existed on the windward side. Softer snow surfaces below treeline allowed for more (but still minimal) amounts of blowing snow.

Snowpit data collected well below treeline did not reveal any signs of current instability. PST result on the Dec 11 PWL still points to the possibility of propagating failure if a large new snow load were to materialize. The overall snowpack in the Mount Rose zone is about half or less of the snowpack depth that exists along the Sierra Crest above 8,000' from around Emerald Bay northward.