Professional Observation - Pinnacle Ridge, Flathead Range

Location Name: 
Professional Observation - Pinnacle Ridge, Flathead Range
Region: 
Flathead Range - Middle Fork Corridor
Date and time of observation: 
Mon, 12/12/2016 - 12:00
Location Map: 


Red Flags: 
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain

Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
Snowpack photos: 
Any other comments about the observation or links to outside pages that have more info on the observation: 

We toured up Pinnacle Creek today to see what the recent storm had done with all of the light snow from last week. 

Our pits were dug on NE and SW slopes and both windward and leeward.  Our pit results showed some weak failure within the storm snow at minor density changes, but no propogation was observed. We did not see any windslabs, although there certainly was some wind transport of snow occuring while we were up there.  Our pits varied from 6000-7000 ft. 

We did notice that the winds were increasing and shifting more from the west as we left, as opposed to the morning where they were coming more from the south/southwest.  While we didn't find any slabs as a result of the blowing snow if the winds continued as they were when we left there certainly could be some more cohesive windslabs tomorrow.

 

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
75% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Light (Twigs in motion)
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Activity: 
Snowboarding
High Temp. (C): 
15 F