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Observation: Bunchgrass

Observation Date
3/14/2021
Observer Name
Greg Gagne
Region
Logan » Logan River » Bunchgrass
Location Name or Route
Bunchgrass Creek - Mounts Gog and Magog
Weather
Weather Comments
East Northeast winds along ridgetops, especially overnight Saturday into Sunday. Some greenhousing on Saturday affecting all aspects < 9,000'. Noticeable warmup in temperatures on Sunday.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
~5 cms (~2 in) soft, recrystallized snow remaining on north aspects above 9,000'. Otherwise snow surface has some unreactive pockets of recent wind drifted snow and widespread sun and temperature crusts. Warm temperatures this weekend really seemed to take a toll on any remaining soft snow.
HS above ~8000' ranges from 1.3 - 2 meters.
Solar aspects all had evidence of draining channels near the surface indicating liquid water from snowmelt is working its way down through the snowpack.
Comments
Spent Fri/Sat/Sun, March 12-14 at Bunchgrass Yurt and explored adjacent terrain. Few comments:
- Overall very stable snowpack with Low danger.
- Pit on SE aspect at 8,500' below Mt Gog. HS 190 cms (6') that quickly went from 1F to P-hard, with 20-30 cms damp, 4F facets down near the ground. On some solar aspects snowpack may be close to going isothermal.
- Several quick pits on northerly aspects with 1 to 1.2 meter 4F/1F sab on top of 30-40 cms of facets. Pit results were ECTX. The facets down near the ground are dry but seem to be gaining strength. The slab on top is quite strong and from what I observed in this zone, it seems unlikely one could trigger a deep slab avalanche in this current structure.
- On Friday, I was finding some weaker, recrystallized snow at the surface, but warm temperatures and wind have eroded weak snow at the surface. It is possible that some dry, faceted snow remains in steep, upper-elevation terrain.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low