Shallow snow, old facets, and corn snow in the 2nd Creek Drainage

Location Name: 
2nd Creek
Region: 
Mount Rose Area
Date and time of observation: 
Fri, 02/15/2013 - 12:00
Location Map: 
United States
39° 17' 27.1968" N, 119° 57' 37.8684" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Obvious avalanche path
Terrain Trap
Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Good spring corn skiing throughout the day today in the Mt. Rose area.  Good overnight freeze with diminishing NE/E winds allowed for 2'' of corn snow to form on SW-S-SE aspects on top of a firm, substantial melt freeze crust.  Coverage is becoming very spotty on solar aspects below 8000' with some hiking involved to get around in this area.

On shaded aspects there was a shallow snowpack made up mostly of weak faceted snow.  The near surface facets below the surface crust were large and well developed-they were reactive to CT's but showed no propagation potential with the PST or ECT's.  There are several other layers of concern within this snowpack, see snowpit above, some layers are showing that propagation could be possible.  Currently, these weak layers don't present a huge problem but that could change as we get more snow load in the future.   

Photo 1: Facets below the surface crust at the location of the snowpit at these coordinates: 39.28165N 119.96034W

Photo 2: Wind scoured exposed crusts on an above treeline NE aspect at around 9600ft. 

Photo 3: 2-3 inches of wet corn snow on a SSW aspect at around 1 pm at around 8600 ft.

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: 
None
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: