Dense wind slabs on Judah

Location Name: 
Mt. Judah
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 15:00
Location Map: 
United States
39° 18' 13.212" N, 120° 19' 3.4248" W
See map: Google Maps
US


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

Winds slabs up to 1 ft in depth existed on wind loaded near and above treeline slopes. Ski cuts on test slopes where these slabs existed produced shooting cracks up to 4 ft in length but did not cause any slab failures. Snowpit tests showed wide variablity in with both stable and unstable results. More of the results pointed to instability. The weakness that both the cracks and the snowpit tests failed on was a layer of graupel near the base of the storm snow.

Below 7500 ft the shallow snowpack was saturated with water.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Strong
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Cooling
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: 

Snow level in this area was around 7200 ft at 3 pm.