Professional Observation
Basic Information
Observation Details
Observation Date:
February 18, 2021Submitted:
February 18, 2021Observer:
TAC - Andy BondZone or Region:
Taos AreaLocation:
Northerly AspectsSigns of Unstable Snow
Recent Avalanches?
YesCracking?
None ExperiencedCollapsing?
None ExperiencedMedia
Advanced Information
Weather Summary
Cloud Cover:
Mostly CloudyTemperature:
10 - 20Wind:
Light , WA mix of sun and clouds with light snowfall but no real accumulation. Winds were in the single digits gusting into the high teens out of the West. There is a ton of snow still available for transport and winds should be picking up this evening into tomorrow.
Snowpack Observations
The skiing and riding has been fantastic! Not much new to report with high level of variability with snowpack depths from some slopes with 1.5 m of snow and others having close to 3 m of snow. In the shallow snowpacks, faceted weak layers have been slower to heal and easier to trigger. Deeper snowpacks have seen a greater level of healing and strengthening of facets that are buried deeper in the snowpack.
On some slopes we are finding reactive buried near-surface facets beneath a melt-freeze crust and wind-packed slab that formed on 2/12 just before the Valentine's Day storm. These facets have the 2 to 3-foot storm slabs on top.