No Flathead Rain-Snow Massacre

Location Name: 
Forecaster Observation - northern Flathead Range
Observation date: 
Saturday, March 5, 2022 - 21:45

Is this an Avalanche Observation: 
No
Observation made by: Forecaster

Tabs

Quick Observation

Day off explore in the northern Flathead Range. We didn't find the crowns and fracture lines reported from a few miles away.

  • Below treeline, the snow was refrozen, supportable, and topped with 1-5 cm of snow from Friday. This snow got moist by midafternoon but the surface snow remained supportable and even icy. A few patches of corn.
  • At mid elevations, new snow accumulation from Friday totaled 10-12 cm. It was sitting on a ~5cm melt-freeze crust that was supportable on skis but not foot. Weaker on shaded slopes and sometimes grabby while descending, particularly between 5800 and 6200 feet. 
  • The snowpack on the windward ridge we ascended was thinner than at similar elevations on leeward slopes and moist to the ground. Midseason ice layers and crusts have softened to 1 finger hard, and facets are rounding (image). ECTN 13 below the new snow/ crust structure, with no failures in a standard extended column test below that (image, snowpack details tab).
  • Above treeline, new snow accumulations were more like 15-20 cm. This snow formed a very soft, barely cohesive slab that pulled off cleanly in hand shears with moderate force but showed no signs of instability while riding. This snow stayed dry all day thanks to the increasing clouds, except for a slight thickening on the sunniest slopes.
  • Recent wind effects were confined tp ridgelines an consisted of 2-5 cm thick wind crusts within 10 m of the crest. Some signs that winds had blown up northerly slopes. 
  • Surprisingly, we saw no crowns or debris piles, though one below us westerly slope had some scrawny, tattered trees that looked to have had some rogh days recently. Debris from early in the storm might have been buried. 

Good skiing on a beautiful day. Crest of the range is plastered. 

Snowpack, Avalanche, Weather Images: 
Travel Details
Region: 
Flathead Range - Middle Fork Corridor
Route Description: 

to 7400 ft

Activity: 
Skiing
Snowpack Details
Snowpack and Weather Details: 
Hide Terrain
Elevation of observation: 
3500-5000 ft
5000-6500 ft
Above 6500 ft
Aspect(s) of observation: 
SE
S
SW
W
Persistent Weak Layers: 
Facets or Faceted Crust
Buried
New Snow in the past 24 hours: 
5.00in.
Total Snow Depth: 
115
More comments about the snowpack and weather: 
Clear skies in the morning gave way to partly to mostly cloudy skies by mid afternoon. Light Northerly winds at ridges. Test profile at 5875 feet, west-southwest slope. HS 115 cm. 12cm loose new snow at surface, sitting on soft 5 cm MFcr. Moist to the ground. Three mid season crusts midpack, all 1 F hard and water softened. ECTN 13 17 cm below surface, under MFcr. ECTP30+ at 55 cm (60 cm below surface), on moist rounding FC between MFcr. Similar layer at 75 cm didn't fail. Rain runnels visible on this slope and about another 500 vertical feet higher.
Blowing Snow: 
None
Wind Speed: 
Light (Twigs in motion)
Wind Direction: 
North
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Snow line: 
3000'
Sky Cover: 
Increasing clouds
Highest Precipitation Rate: 
No Precipitation (NO)