Elephant's Hump Observation

Warm and damp on Elephant's Hump today. I found 1-2 inches of heavy new snow sitting on top of old wet snow. Red Lake sits at 7800 feet and that appeared to be close to the lower elevation range for new snow. Views looking up towards Red Lake Peak were obscured by the low clouds but looking across Hope Valley visibility was good. It was a great day for making roller balls on steep test slopes. I dug a pit to look at the February 14 facets. While they are still present, I didn't get any propagation in my extended column tests (ECTN) or particularly interesting propagation saw tests (PST 70/100 END). It was so warm I had a hard time examining the facets to determine their size or shape before they started to melt. Snow depth was 232 cms at 8300 feet where I dug my pit. 

Driving over Luther Pass there was no evidence of new snow next to the road but trees at around 8700 feet were holding some snow. 

Photo 1: Looking across Red Lake at Red Lake Peak obscured by clouds.

Photo 2: Boot penetration near the parking lot showing maybe an inch of new wet snow on top of very wet snow (new snow depth did increase a little bit as I gained elevation).

Photo 3: This north facing slope had impressive natural wet loose activity. My photo doesn't really capture the vertical extent of some of these rollerballs. Other similar slopes nearby had similar activity. 

Photo 4: Pit wall showing snow above old facet layer. 

Photo 5: I had repeatable ECTN results from the elbow failing on the old facet layer but not propagating. I also did two PSTs with PST 70/100 END and PST 80/100 END results. 

Photo 6: Several times there was intense snowfall with rimed new snow and small graupel but the snow melted quickly.