Corn snow and crusts on Castle Peak

Location Name: 
Castle Peak
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Thu, 02/14/2013 - 14:00
Location Map: 
United States
39° 21' 58.1148" N, 120° 21' 26.1468" W
See map: Google Maps
US


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

On Castle Peak today the moderate to strong ENE winds prevented many exposed near and above treeline southerly slopes from softening. On sun exposed S-SE aspects with shelter from the ENE winds 2-4 inches of soft corn snow formed on top of firm melt/freeze snow on these aspects by mid afternoon.

On the other side of the compass, scoured surfaces and wind packed snow existed on the exposed NW-N-NE aspects. ON the sheltered northerly aspects some soft unconsolidated snow still remained on top of the old rain crusts. The snow near this rain crust continues to slowly lose strength. Even though data indicates that this layer is becoming weaker, tests also indicated that fracture should not travel very far through this layer.

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