We did not observe red flags at mid and upper elevations. Above freezing temperatures in lower elevations could be a cause for concern if saturated snow at the surface leads to wet loose activity on steep slopes.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Tincan
Raised up the “Are You Beeping?” sign before taking the standard route up Tincan to Common Bowl at 3200′.
Saturated snow at the road level made for sections of hazardous driving conditions.
Observer Comments
Weather
Broken skies through out the day.
Light winds from the South.
Warm temps, 37*F when we returned to the car near 4pm. Chilly along ridge with the breeze (miid 20'sF).
Snow surface
We found about 6 inches of creamy new snow. At and above treeline this snow had been stiffened by yesterday's wind.
Below 1500', the new snow was becoming quite moist.
Snowpack
We had decent visibility and were able to take a look at the surrounding mountains. We did not see any signs of recent natural avalanches in the Turnagain Pass area. Most slopes we were able to see had a wavy texture due the winds last night.
On our way up, we would periodically dig quick hand pits in the new 6ish inches of snow to look for any recently buried surface hoar. We were not able to find any. Instead, we found the new snow to be slightly upside down and breaking on a layer of buried stellars.
We dug a pit near 3200' on a SW aspect. The snowpack was deeper than our probes could measure (>320cm). The snowpack in this location seemed quite stable. We did not get any propagating results in our tests (ECTN5 within new snow on buried stellars, 15cm down). We identified a "Valentine's Day" interface about 2 feet down. It only broke (but did not propagate) when we overloaded our ECT with a boot kick.
Upper Tincan / Lyon Valley
Snow pit at 3200' on SW aspect. No remarkable results, only 6" new snow.