Forecaster Observation - Hash Mountain, Swan Range

Location Name: 
Forecaster Observation - Hash Mountain, Swan Range
Region: 
Swan Range - East Side (Hungry Horse Reservoir access)
Date and time of observation: 
Tue, 01/31/2017 - 12:00
Location Map: 

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

Our goals for the day were to

1.  Assess the sensitivity of wind slabs

2.  Investigate reports of whumpfing in the Swan Range/ look for buried surface hoar and other PWL's.

3.  Determine if the storm missed us completely.

We didn't find any new snow from the storm.  Sun was prevalent to our north.  There were clouds to the south, but they didn't appear to be dropping any precipitation near our location.

We did find wind slabs along the ridge, but they didn't show signs of sensitivity, either in the pits or while travelling on the ridge.

Although it is showing signs of strengthening, we continue to find a snowpack with poor structure.  We found two different layers of buried surface hoar, but both required moderate to hard force to fail and did not fully propagate in stability tests.  We also found thin layers of facets above and below the Dec. 19 crust.  No collapsing, cracking or whumphing was observed.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

January 31, 2017

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
50% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Light (Twigs in motion)
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Cooling
Wind Direction: 
East
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
Activity: 
Skiing
Precip Rate: 
S -1; very light snowfall, trace to 0.5cm/hour
High Temp. (C): 
17
Low Temp. (C): 
15