Snow Pit From Red Lake Bowl

SNOWPACK OBSERVATION Red Lake Bowl Virginia Creek
Submission Info Friday, January 4, 2019 - 11:30am

Contributor

Andrew Markoff

38° 2' 16.9944" N, 119° 16' 11.4888" W

See map: Google Maps

Snowpit Observations

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph:

Any other comments about the observation or links to outside pages that have more info on the observation:

See attached image - 01.04.2019_red_lake_bowl_tour.jpg

Timeline:

0930: started tour

1010: observed thin snowpack in trees on NE aspect at 10K’; 2 cm crust with facets to the ground beneath. Widespread patches of surface hoar observed along the entire route up to this point.

1030: Took pictures of 3mm surface hoar patches at 10.2K’, NE aspect with sparse trees. Above 10.2K’, we observed SW wind gusts starting to knock down sparsely protected surface hoar patches.

1125: Dug full snow profile on NW aspect of Red Lake Bowl, 10.8K’, 33 deg slope. HS 70cm; 2 thin P/K wind crusts within top 12cm of snowpack on top of facets nearly to the ground. CT29 RP and ECTN28: wind crust failed 12cm down on 1mm facets.

1300: Skied down. Winds on Black Mtn – South Peak Ridge moderate from SW. Snowpack within 50’ of ridgetop very thin: less than 10cm in many places

Weather Observations

Blowing Snow:

Cloud Cover:

25% of the sky covered by clouds

Wind Speed:

Light

Precipitation:

None

Wind Direction:

Southwest

Accumulation rate: