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Heavy snow: stylishly late to the party
Location Name:
Forecaster Observation - Stanton Lake, Flathead Range
Observation date:
Saturday, February 17, 2018 - 17:45
Is this an Avalanche Observation:
Yes
Observation made by:
Forecaster
Tabs
Quick Observation
The storm was slow to arrive, but heavy snowfall (S5) developed by 3 p.m., with a few periods of S10. About 4" of accumulation today by 4 p.m, most of it in the last hour. Calm winds where we traveled.
24" to 30" of settled storm snow over the VDay facet layer/ rain crust. The facets are well preserved on all aspects and elevations up to our turnaround point at 6,000'. The slab above is still soft and was relatively quiet where we traveled, mid-day. There is a noticeable hardness change developing at the weak layer boundary though. We experienced collapsing on a few southerly aspects where the facets are capped by a thin sun crust.
Limited views of avalanche terrain. Road cuts on the drive home showed widespread sluffing triggered by the heavy snowfall rates this afternoon.
Travel Details
Region:
Flathead Range - Middle Fork Corridor
Route Description:
The ridge above Stanton Lake, up to 6,000'
Activity:
Skiing
Avalanche Details
Avalanche Details:
Date and Time of Avalanche:
Saturday, February 17, 2018 - 16:45
Avalanche Type:
Loose Dry/ Sluff
Failure Plane/Weak Layer:
Within storm snow
More information or comments about the avalanche:
Trigger
Trigger:
natural
Size
Destructive Size:
D1 Relatively harmless to people.
Relative Size:
R2 Small
Avalanche Length (Vertical Run):
50ft.
Avalanche Location:
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