Near Crust Facets on Tamarack Peak

Location Name: 
Far East Ridge of Tamarack Peak
Region: 
Mount Rose Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sun, 03/30/2014 - 14:30
Location Map: 
United States
39° 18' 50.3604" N, 119° 54' 22.644" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Forecaster
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

10 inches of new snow fell in the Rose area in the last 24 hours. Observations in this area indicated the the new snow is bonding well to the recent snow that exists below it. Ski cuts, oven sized cornice drops, or aggressive jumping did not trigger shooting cracks or other signs of failures on wind loaded or non wind loaded slopes today.

On the other hand, snowpit data did reveal the presence of near crust facets below the crust at the base of the recent snow (14 inches down in non-wind loaded areas). Snowpit tests yielded consistent unstable results concerning this thin layer of weak sugary snow. The near crust facets existed on the N-NE aspects on slopes sheltered from the winds and on some wind loaded slopes. In addition to the pit attached below, ECTP and PST END results also occurred in a wind loaded and non wind loaded test pits on N-NE aspects between 9000 and  9800 ft in this area.

Any slopes the received sunshine (E-SE-S-SW) this morning had heavy snow with breakable crust on the surface by mid day.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

ECTP on the Far East Ridge of Tamarack

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
50% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Cooling
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: 

Mostly sunny skies in the morning warmed up the top few inches of snow on the sun-exposed areas. By this afternoon skies became mostly cloudy with some snow showers starting to occur around 2 pm.