Testpit on Mt. Judah

Location Name: 
Mt. Judah
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Thu, 01/07/2010 - 13:27
Location Map: 
United States
39° 18' 7.5312" N, 120° 18' 58.68" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Forecaster
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Rain softened all snow surfaces last night, and they had not refrozen by this afternoon. 1-3 inches of soft wet snow existed on all aspects up to 8200' on Mt. Judah today (photo 1 wet snow on the summit of Judah). On some steep (35-40 degree) slopes the rain had released small roller balls and point-release slides. None of these was large enough to be very dangerous (photo 3). A few skier-triggered roler balls also occurred today the largest of these was about 6-8 inches in diameter (photo 2). Expect a solid refreeze tonight on all aspects due to clear skies and cold temperatures. The snow surface tomorrow morning should be firm and icy on all aspects that received rain (everywhere up to 8800').

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Snowpack photos: 
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: 
25% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Calm
Precipitation: 
None
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
Accumulation rate: 
None
More detailed information about the weather: 

Fog in the valley up to 7500' until noon. Above 7500' skies were partly cloudy. By 2 pm fog had cleared and the cloud cover above had become less widespread.