Lee Vining Canyon Snow Conditions

SNOWPACK OBSERVATION V Bowl Lee Vining
Submission Info Forecaster Tuesday, January 22, 2019 - 11:30am

Contributor

Chris Engelhardt

37° 55' 34.5864" N, 119° 11' 18.42" W

See map: Google Maps

Snowpit Observations

More detailed information about the snowpack:

One compression test resulted in CT21 Resistant Planar on a thin layer of laid down surface hoar at 50cm below the surface. There were only a few vertically oriented SH crystals with the majority decomposing and laying over. Second compression test registered CTN and Extended Column Test resulted in ECTX. We skied a NE aspect and found excellent powder skiing. No signs of instability were observed during our tour today.

There were multiple class 1 and 2 avalanches that had slid during the Jan 16/17 cycle in the basin below Dana Plateau.

Observed some North wind early this morning along the 395 corridor in the Crowley area, but winds appeared to be light up high and non-existent in the lower elevations where we toured today. Temperatures remained cold in the shade at -7C at 1130am. Sunnier aspects were beginning to be affected by the solar radiation.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph:

Snowpack photos:

Snowpit videos (tests, etc):

Weather Observations

Cloud Cover:

Clear

Air temperature:

Below Freezing

Wind Speed:

Calm

More detailed information about the weather:

North winds were calmer than expected today. There was some visible wind transport up high, but overall not much volume of snow appeared to be moving. Wind transported snow wasn't completely absent, but not as much as anticipated when writing the forecast early this morning. Negative temperatures (C) prevailed in shady areas below 9000ft while the clear skies and ever higher sun on the horizon made for very pleasant apres skiing early afternoon.