Oservations from Powderhouse Peak

Location Name: 
Powderhouse Peak
Region: 
Luther Pass Area (including Job and Freel)
Date and time of observation: 
Sat, 03/30/2013 - 11:15
Location Map: 
United States
38° 47' 12.66" N, 119° 58' 42.42" W
See map: Google Maps
US


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

A marginal snow surface refreeze occurred in this area last night with 2 to 3 inches of supportable crust on all aspects during the morning hours. By noon, surface melt-freeze had fully melted below 8,200' on N aspects, leading to unsupportable conditions.

Snowpit data gathered at 8,550' on a N aspect revealed that the snowpack is nearing an isothermal state with temps ranging from 0 to -1.5C. Of the HS 138 to 170cm in the area of the snowpit, all but the bottom 26cm had been exposed to free water from recent snowpack melt. No significant weak layers were found, indicating that wet slab avalanches failing within old snow layers are unlikely to occur. The snowpack in this area is in very good condition to handle new loading from snow and rain over the next 48 hours.

Photo 1: View south at noon from Powderhouse summit towards Steven's Peak and points south. Increasing cloud cover and virga visible.

Photo 2: View north at noon from Powderhouse summit towards Mt. Tallac and points north. Increasing cloud cover but less than areas to the south.

By 1pm, further increasing cloud cover to 75%-100% was observed all along the Sierra Crest from Echo Summit to Donner Summit.

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