The primary focus of the day was to look at the snow surfaces and what this storm will be falling on, and to continue monitoring the persistent weak layer. We dug a pit on a NE aspect near 9,800 feet off Twin Lakes Pass. Total snow depth was 222 cm, and we dug just below the facets, not all the way down to the CERC.
We found what I have been seeing across most of the Upper Cottonwoods: new snow from the past two storm systems sitting atop weak faceted snow. The primary pattern in the Upper Cottonwoods has been a slightly firmer band of faceted snow near the new snow interface, above 1F hardness, with weaker snow both above and below it. This does not mirror what I have consistently seen along the Park City ridgeline and more outlying features, where the new snow sits directly on consistently weak faceted snow, F minus or weaker.
With the slightly firmer faceted snow and the overall depth of the new snow, we were unable to get propagation in our pit, producing an ECTX. However, using a PST in the slightly weaker snow above the 1F faceted layer, we got PST 50/100 END down on the facets. I think this helps represent what to pay attention to moving forward. We may not see as much propagation in our pits, but the propagation propensity still exists once that weak layer is removed or an additional load is added, as we will see with this next storm and its higher water totals.
Pit profile - Twin Lake Pass - NE Aspect - 9990'
