24 Hour Snow: 0" 72 Hour Snow: 1" Season Total Snow: 49" Depth at Gold Basin: 30"

Winds on Pre-Laurel Peak: S 20-25 G 32 Temp: 27°F

Weather

Look for warm, cloudy, and breezy conditions in the mountains today as a low pressure trough approaches the California coast. High temps will be in the mid to upper 30's at 10,000 feet and winds blowing from the southwest will average 15-25 mph along ridge tops. Monday will be even warmer and breezier with continued southwest winds blowing in the 20-30 mph range with gusts as high as 50 mph along ridge tops. Snowfall should begin late Monday night with highest rates of precipitation arriving Tuesday morning. The pattern remains active through the week and the arrival of a cold front on Wednesday looks to bring us perhaps our best shot of snow.

General Conditions

Although we were hoping for more, the 5 inches of new snow we received last week really helped conditions and it was a sunny powder day in the mountains yesterday. It was very warm, however, and by afternoon, sun exposed slopes were damp and gloppy and they'll be crusted over this morning. On Friday, Jason Ramsdell and I observed a fair amount of cracking and soft slab formation in the most recent snow but yesterday, Dave and I observed little to none. The recent snow is sitting on top of weak, sugary, faceted snow, and although it hasn't been enough to tip the scales, the pump is primed. An increase in southerly winds overnight will likely move some snow around resulting in fresh, shallow slabs on northerly aspects and adding just a little more stress to buried weak layers. Evaluate terrain carefully today and avoid steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.

For more on conditions yesterday check out these observations from Reed Kennard and Ryan Huels.

See all recent observations here.

Snowpack and Weather Data

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Gold Basin Storm Stake (10,000')

Gold Basin SNOTEL site (10,000')