Snowpit and observations on Castle Peak

Location Name: 
Castle Peak
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Wed, 02/08/2012 - 11:30
Location Map: 
United States
39° 21' 59.688" N, 120° 21' 12.312" W
See map: Google Maps
US


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

Observations at the pit on and on NW-N aspects at and below treeline from 8,000' to 8,900' showed much less near surface faceting in this area than what has been observed around the rest of the forecast area. Near surface rain crust is breakable, but less brittle than in other areas observed recently. No evidence of instability observed in this strong and stable snowpack.

Photo: SE-S-SW aspects between 7,700' and 8,300' held 1 inch of wet snow over very supportable melt freeze snow at 12:30pm. The trace of new snow in this area from yesterday was rapidly assimilated into the wet snow on southerly aspects today. No evidence of wet snow instability observed in this area as of 1 pm.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
Clear
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Calm
Precipitation: 
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: 

Winds were calm with no evidence of the forecast east wind at 1pm.