Wet snow and frozen crusts on Fireplug

Location Name: 
Fireplug
Region: 
Mount Rose Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sat, 03/16/2013 - 15:00
Location Map: 
United States
39° 19' 30.846" N, 119° 54' 27.1152" W
See map: Google Maps
US


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

Photo 1: More than 3 ft. of soft wet snow existed on this and other sun-exposed E-SE aspects between 8200 ft. and 9000 ft. at 3 pm today. When I stepped off of my skis to test how deep the wet snow was, I sunk to my mid-thigh on this lower angle slope.

On the more south facing and southwest facing aspects in the fireplug area, only 6-8 inches of wet snow existed on top of a more supportable layer of consolidated melt-freeze snow.

A 1 inch thick variable melt-freeze crust had formed on the N-NE aspects. This crust remained frozen all day. Below this crust between 8200 and 9300 ft, the snow remained cold and dry and the March 6 facet layers still existed.

Video 1: An ECTN on the March 6th layers. I performed these tests in an area where whumphing was observed last week. The ECTN and PST below indicated that fracture propagation in these layers has become unlikely in this area. 

Video 2: PST 90/100 END on the March 6th facets

Snowpack photos: 
Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

2013-03-16 Fireplug ECTN

2013-03-16 Fireplug PST 90/100 END

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Light
Precipitation: 
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Wind Direction: 
West
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: