Professional Observation - WMR, southern Whitefish Range

Location Name: 
Professional Observation - WMR, southern Whitefish Range
Region: 
Whitefish Range - Southern (south of Coal Creek)
Date and time of observation: 
Sun, 12/18/2016 - 12:00
Location Map: 

Red Flags: 
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Public
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Pit dug on NNE aspect (32 deg). Total snow depth of 153 cm. No evidence of new wind slabs or other slab formation. Thin (3 mm), very hard ice crust 58 cm below snow surface.  Several weaker, degrading crusts present approximately 100 cm below surface. Layer beneath these crusts featured ~1mm facets mixed with some rounded forms. The faceted layer was fist hard, contrasting with harder layers above and below (P and 1F, respectively).

CT and ECT performed. Depths recorded as cm from ground.

CTE in top 30 cm at multiple locations (new, non-cohesive snow). CT16Q2 @ 116 cm.  CT23Q3 @ 88 cm

ECTN1 @ 145; ECTN10 @ 134; ECTN13 @ 125 cm; ECTN28 @ 91 cm. Failure in facet layer at 91 cm released with more energy than other failures, though there was still no propogation beyond shovel width. 

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate (Small trees sway)
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
South
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
Activity: 
Skiing
High Temp. (C): 
-16