Snowpit from Mt. Houghton

Location Name: 
South ridge of Mt. Houghton
Region: 
Mount Rose Area
Date and time of observation: 
Tue, 01/03/2017 - 14:49
Location Map: 
United States
39° 19' 42.384" N, 119° 56' 23.388" W
See map: Google Maps
US


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

There has been a ton of wind transport in the Mt. Rose area; new drifts as large as 7' deep along Relay Ridge rd.  The location of this pit was about 20' off the ridge with a significantly lower amount of wind loading than surrounding areas.  With the shovel shear test I saw obvious weakness at the new snow/old snow interface, which to my surprise was not present in the CT's.  The weakest layer in this profile seems to be the snow just under the melt freeze crust from 12/24.     

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Strong
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Greater than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: