Hemlock Ridge - Wind effects - stubborn hand shears

SNOWPACK OBSERVATION Hemlock Ridge June Lake
Submission Info Forecaster Thursday, February 28, 2019 - 2:00pm

Contributor

Josh Feinberg

Red Flags:

Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain

37° 44' 29.3892" N, 119° 6' 7.614" W

See map: Google Maps

Snowpit Observations

More detailed information about the snowpack:

Toured off the top of June Mtn, across Yost meadow and up Hemlock Ridge. Moderate winds, strong at ridgetop. Across the north facing trees of Hemlock Ridge, winds were coming out of the East across the slope, and loading west facing features between 9,400'-10,400'. ~5" of new snow in sheltered trees on the back side of June ontop of melt-freeze crust at 9,600'. No shooting cracks today. Stomped and ski cut steep west facing leeward features that were previously stripped earlier in the week, but were loaded up with wind deposited snow now, and no results were produced. Hand pits on the fatest recently formed wind-pillows I could find failed with hard force, and somewhat roughly (See attached video). In sheltered area, dense snow made for fun bouncy skiing :-)

Snowpit videos (tests, etc):

Weather Observations

Blowing Snow:

Yes

Cloud Cover:

75% of the sky covered by clouds

Air temperature:

Wind Speed:

Moderate

Precipitation:

Air temperature trend:

Wind Direction:

Accumulation rate:

More detailed information about the weather:

Cloudy day with periods of light snowfall. Windy up high, and along the highway. Although winds were forecasted out of the SW, below ridgelines and mid-slopes they were coming out of other directions. Puddles in the roadways at 7400'.