Close

Professional Observation

Basic Information

Observation Details

Observation Date:

March 4, 2021

Submitted:

March 5, 2021

Observer:

TAC - Andy Bond

Zone or Region:

Taos Area

Location:

Backside of Kachina Peak

Signs of Unstable Snow

Recent Avalanches?

Yes

Cracking?

Isolated

Collapsing?

None Experienced

Loose wet snow avalanches from the warm day on 3/3

Advanced Information

Weather Summary

Cloud Cover:

Overcast

Wind:

Moderate , SW

Periods of snow and blowing snow throughout the day. Picked up 4 to 6 inches of snow with lots of graupel.

Snowpack Observations

Got pulled into a rescue mission which led to a long day, so sorry for the delayed obs.

New snow during the day was falling on a variety of different surfaces from stout crusts to near-surface facets on northerly aspects. The new snow was starting to build enough cohesion in the afternoon to start forming slabs that were failing easily in stability tests.

Continue to find faceted weak layers on Northerly and East aspects in the bottom 60 cm of the snowpack. In shallower snowpacks you get these weak layers to fail with moderate to hard force in long column tests.

Close