Snow Pit from Meiss Lake

Location Name: 
Meiss Lake Ridge
Region: 
Carson Pass Area
Observation Date & Time: 
Saturday, December 3, 2022 - 12:00
Location: 
38.716270, -120.014730
See map: CalTopo
Is this an Avalanche Observation?: 
No


Conditions Alerts:

  • Other Signs of Instability (cracking, whumpfing, collapsing)
  • Other Signs of Instability (cracking, whumpfing, collapsing)›Collapsing / whumpfing noises
  • Other Signs of Instability (cracking, whumpfing, collapsing)›Shooting Cracks
  • Recent Loading
  • Recent Loading›Blowing Snow
Observation made by: Public

Tabs

Observation
Description of Snow, Weather, and Avalanche Conditions: 

We toured out to the ridge at Meiss Lake and got hammered by the wind. We hoped to get out a bit ahead of the incoming strom today but got beat up by heavy SW winds, sustained 25-35 mph gusting 45+ mph. We bailed off the ridge and found whumphing to be present. We decided to dig a pit to see what was going on.

 

We found ~80 cm of storm snow at our location, already showing signs of bonding. There was thin wind crust where we dug. In the attached profile, I must have missed detecting a small interface between the existing snow and the new storm snow. The results from comprestion tests showed many irregular and broken interfaces with one Q1 result on tap 27 on the old/new snow interface. ECT yielded similar results with only one propogating result on tap 30. My interpretation of the results are that a slab is hard to trigger, but if it does trigger, it'll go big. 

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Hide Snowpack Details
Total Snow Depth: 
135cm
Persistent Weak Layers: 
Buried
Hide Terrain Details
Terrain: elevations: 
Below Treeline
Terrain: aspects: 
NE
Hide Weather Details
Elevation of Observation: 
8000 - 9000 ft.
Blowing Snow: 
Moderate
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Sky Cover: 
Overcast - Cloudy - 8/8 covered
Highest Precipitation Rate: 
Heavy Snowfall (S5 = 5 cm /~2 in per hour)
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
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