Observation: Summit

Location: Fresno weather station

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Alaska Pacific University Mountain Weather class hike to Fresno weather station to do some light maintenance.

Red Flags
Red flags are simple visual clues that are a sign of potential avalanche danger. Please record any sign of red flags below.
Observer Comments

None observed.

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

Beautiful crisp day in the mountains.
Clear skies with no wind or precipitation. Temperatures warmed up just above freezing at road level, but remained in the low twenties in the ridgeline.

Snow surface

The recent storm had deposited 5cm at roadside and up to 15 cm at 3400'. There was some near surface faceting going on in the top layer. We also found some needle form surface hoar in the lower elevation.

Snowpack

Snowpack consists mostly of the new snow from Thursday/Friday, but in the higher elevations there were 1-2 cm meltform layer at the base of the snowpack from an earlier snow event. Additionally, above 3000' there were localized pockets of thin(3-5cm) 4F hard windslab as a midpack layer.

Most likely too thin for skiing still, unless you don't mind your rock skis sliding on grass and heather.