New snow at Blue Lakes

Location Name: 
Blue Lakes
Region: 
Carson Pass Area
Date and time of observation: 
Fri, 01/19/2018 - 12:00
Location Map: 
United States
38° 37' 54.8076" N, 119° 56' 52.6488" W
See map: Google Maps
US


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

6-10 inches of cold, low density new snow with minimal wind slab observed in this area. 

Picture: Test slope near Forestdale Divide that's normally quite wind loaded. This is about the same aspect and elevation as Elephant's Back. Multiple passes only produced a tiny and shallow failure. Similar observations on other test slopes in this area, with surprisingly little wind loading observed. But from a distance, we could see "tiger stripe" wind loading patterns on Elephant's Back. 

Video: PST showed propagation still likely if the deeper faceted layer was triggered. This was near Twin Lake, and another PST near Upper Blue Lake showed similar results. Each was in near treeline terrain, N aspects.

Snowpack photos: 
Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

20180119 PST 40/100 (end) down 70cm on 2mm facets

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
25% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Calm
Precipitation: 
None
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Accumulation rate: 
None