Corn and Crusts on Chickadee Ridge

Location Name: 
Chickadee Ridge
Region: 
Mount Rose Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sun, 03/22/2015 - 14:45
Location Map: 
United States
39° 17' 24.7776" N, 119° 54' 16.7616" W
See map: Google Maps
US


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

2-4 inches of soft corn snow formed above a supportable melt-freeze layer on the SE-S-SW aspects today. In this area the patches of snow cover that still existed on the low angle southerly aspects remained connected enough to descend to about 8300 ft. without having to remove my skis. Ski cuts on small steeper test slopes did not result in any loose wet snow instabilities. Northerly aspects remained mostly frozen in this area.

Photo 1: Thin frozen melt-freeze crust on an ENE aspect at 8800 ft.

Photo 2: An area where ankle deep soft corn snow existed above a supportable melt-freeze layer on a snow patch on a S aspect at 8800 ft. Skis only penetrated about 2-3 inches into the wet snow layer.

Photo 3: Looking up from 8400 ft. at a S-SE aspect which still has some connected patches of snow cover. Large areas of exposed ground also exist on this slope.

Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
25% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Strong
Precipitation: 
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: 

Strong southwest winds buffeted the ridge lines and the summit of Chickadee Ridge.  Mostly sunny skies persisted through early afternoon. Cloud cover started to increase around 3 pm.