Shrinking pack
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
By Lisa Van Sciver
Jackson Hole, Wyo.-As the February sun creeps higher into the sky, it cast rays on the cold slopes of Snowking for the first time this year. Luckily cold temperatures uphold good skiing, particularly on north facing slopes. On south facing slopes the sun has started to melt the snow’s surface during the day and then refreeze it at night. Warm temperatures along with the sun will cause snow to conglobate into a ball as it rolls downhill. In one week our snowpack shrank over ten inches as it settles and stabilizes.
According to Snotel, the precipitation in our surround mountains is just below the seasonal average. Warm days and more hours of sun increases the shrinking rate and sadly moves us further from the one hundred inch party. Although this few week cycle of high pressure has helped secure the snow to the mountain side, the possibility of triggering an avalanche still exists.
After our last storm cycle there was an exceptional avalanche cycle where class 4 avalanches transpired naturally and illustrated this season’s deep slab instability. In areas which did not avalanche this lingering hazard is becoming harder to trigger, but if trigger the consequentiality could be mammoth.
PERMALINK:
Shrinking pack | Planet JH News Article: Snow Report Column
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