Professional Observation - Red Meadow/Werner Pk, Whitefish Range

Location Name: 
Professional Observation - Red Meadow/Werner Pk, Whitefish Range
Region: 
Whitefish Range - Northern (north of Coal Creek)
Date and time of observation: 
Mon, 02/22/2016 - 12:08
Location Map: 

Red Flags: 
Recent avalanche activity
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Obvious avalanche path
Terrain Trap
Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Riding in the Whitefish Range today was nice.  We could see the effects of the wind and transported snow from the last storm cycle even on the road by Upper Whitefish Lake. There was drifting on the road and obvious wind loading at the upper elevations.  We did notice several avalanches that looked to have occured on Sunday.  They appeared to have been wind slabs (varying depths from 1-1.5 feet thick).  Our pit at this location did not propogate, however, we did get failure below the Valentine's day crust (ECTN 23 @ 70 cm down). 

From there we rode over to Werner Peak.  The road across the south face of the peak was heavily drifted.  We noticed several instances of small windslabs failing on the road cuts (approx 3 inches thick).  The snow at 6500 feet on the northern aspects was great with less wind effect.  The crusts are still present there, but are thin enough to not inhibit riding. 

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
75% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Calm (No air motion)
Precipitation: 
None
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Accumulation rate: 
None
More detailed information about the weather: 

No new snow while were out.  The temperature was hoving around freezing at the parking lot and in the high 20s at upper elevation. 

Activity: 
Snowmobiling