Snowpit on Pickett Peak

Location Name: 
Pickett Peak
Region: 
Luther Pass Area (including Job and Freel)
Date and time of observation: 
Sat, 02/20/2010 - 12:15
Location Map: 
United States
38° 45' 39.5172" N, 119° 54' 50.9076" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Observation made by: Forecaster
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Overall shallow snowpack for the region at this elevation. Likely due to the distance east of the Sierra Crest at this location. Remains of early season basal facet layer still indicate that failure and fracture propagation is still a possibility at top of basal layer as indicated by Q1 shears in Comperssion Test and fracture propagation occurring at 49% of cut length in Propagation Saw Test.

Photo 1: Red marker at top of basal facet layer.

Photo 2: Snow crystals in mixed forms faceted state taken from failure plane. A few new form stellar/dendrite crystals can be seen on the card as the fell from the sky and landed on the card while taking photo.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Snowpack photos: 
Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

201000220 Pickett Pk PST 49/100 end.MOV

Any other comments about the observation or links to outside pages that have more info on the observation: 

 

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Cooling
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: 

Light snowfall at time of snowpit observation. Heavy snowfall around 1 inch per hour when departing Pickett's junction at 1:30 pm.