Observation: Turnagain

Location: Sunburst

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

A quick hike up Sunburst this afternoon with the CNFAIC crew!

Red Flags
Red flags are simple visual clues that are a sign of potential avalanche danger. Please record any sign of red flags below.
Obvious signs of instability
Recent Avalanches?Yes
Collapsing (Whumphing)?No
Cracking (Shooting cracks)?No
Observer Comments

Glide avalanches - a few glides released overnight on Seattle Ridge - see photos below.

Weather & Snow Characteristics
Please provide details to help us determine the weather and snowpack during the time this observation took place.
Weather

Party sunny, warm and breezy on the ridgelines as well as in the valleys. Temps ~38F at 1,000' and winds light and northerly along the road then 5-10mph with stronger gusts from the NE mostly on Sunburst Ridge, but the winds did swirl around a bit today with plumes in multiple directions.

Snow surface

Very wet and saturated snow exists from the road up to 2,700'. Boot penetration is to the hip up to ~2,000' where it is at the knee, then the ankle at ~3,000'. Between 2,700' and 3,000' a thin crust becomes present on the surface and covers 3-5" of wet snow grains that sit on moist very dense snow. There was great corn-type skiing from 2,700' to 1,800' ish.

Snowpack

We could not find any weakness within the snowpack today. At the upper elevations a variety of crusts sit near the surface and many of these were soft and in the melt phase this afternoon. At the lower elevations, below 2,500', the pack is mostly wet, unsupportable and isothermal (meaning the whole pack is at 0 deg Celsius).

Photos & Video
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