Very warm day at Echo Bowl

Very warm day at Echo, with a questionable overnight refreeze above the meadow west of the North Upper Truckee neighborhoods. Although the meadow itself was frozen, shaded slopes above the meadow were already wet at the surface by late morning. Roller balls were seen initiating from snow near rocks in the sun. We were able to find 1ft of settled snow on top of January facets, and get propagating test results, but we were looking specifically for this by digging profiles on cold slopes sheltered from previous winds. Debris from a small human triggered avalanche was observed on the SE aspect of Echo Peak - likely several days old.

Pics 1 and 2: Surface hoar in the shade, already becoming wet by late morning. Shaded snow was wet/moist and easily clumping together.

Pic 3: Crust/facet combo down 1ft from the surface. The snow above the facets is settling and becoming more slab-like. We went looking specifically for this, by digging on cold slopes sheltered from previous winds.

Pic 4: Small avalanche from a few days ago on the right, roller balls likely from today on the left.

Pic 5: Cloud cover remained minimal and we never experienced any perceivable "greenhousing," but the day was warm regardless.