Shelter in Powder

Location Name: Southern Whitefish Range Observation date: Thursday, March 26, 2020 - 18:00	Is this an Avalanche Observation: No

Observation made by: Public

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Quick Observation

Recreated carefully on sheltered North-facing terrain between 6400' and 5600'.
Day started clear and gradually became overcast. Temperature at 6000' climbed into the upper twenties by 2:00pm, then dropped back into mid-twenties by 4:00pm. SW winds picked up around 2pm into the moderate range, though were channeled up a drainage and were blowing snow from South to North.
Top four to six inches of snow from the last two days was fist hard. Below this was a thin crust/facet combo. (See pic.)
Near ridge there were drifts that had formed overnight up to 10 inches thick.
Jumping on these drifts on steep test slopes produced negligible results, but I could initiate small slabs by skiing above snow bike tracks in drifts.
Saw no signs of instability before 2pm in wind and sun sheltered areas. Minimal dry sluffs on steep slopes.
Around 2pm the surface snow had begun to consolidate, with some minor cracking around turns, but only in the top two inches or so.
Toured out on a SE-facing open slope and found dust on a supportable crust down to 5200'.
Between 5200' and 4800' the snow was mushy on South-facing terrain, but I found a supportive crust with an inch of powder on SW and W-facing slopes from 4800' down to 4000' at 5:30pm.
At 6pm the temp was 33 F at 3800'.

Snowpack, Avalanche, Weather Images: