Observations from Echo Lakes area

Location Name: 
Becker Peak and Talking Mountain
Region: 
Echo Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Mon, 01/18/2010 - 11:00
Location Map: 
United States
38° 49' 57.4356" N, 120° 4' 9.0984" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Recent avalanche activity
Whumphing noises, shooting cracks, or collapsing
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Obvious avalanche path
Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Photo 1: Skier triggered slab failed just above old snow on stellars and large, 5mm plates.

  

Photo 2: Warm temps at Echo Lake (elev. 7400ft).

 

Photo 3: Echo Lake in early afternoon, with S2+ snowfall intensity. Within 3 hours of our previous descent to this elevation, 15 to 20cm of new, wet and dense snow had fallen in areas protected from wind deposition.

 

An obvious increase in snowfall intensity in conjunction with temperature spike were observered around 10:30 am. Temperatures began falling again, but snowfall intensity remained S2+.

 

A mixed stellar and graupel layer was observed near the top of the early morning snowfall, and was the suspected failure layer for several moderate-sized skier triggered sluffs later in the day in steeper, mid-slope, wind-sheltered terrain.

 

Shooting cracks only (isolated to wind-loaded terrain) - no whumphing or collapse observed.

 

 

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

 

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Cooling
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Greater than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: