Erosion of wind slabs on Andesite Ridge

Location Name: 
Andesite Ridge
Region: 
Donner Summit Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sat, 02/23/2013 - 12:45
Location Map: 
United States
39° 20' 35.016" N, 120° 21' 8.64" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Forecaster
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Wind slabs created last night in this area were up to 20cm (8in) thick at treeline on N-NE-E aspects. Winds had shifted to the NE by 12:30pm and were slowly eroding snow from the recently formed wind slabs. The wind slabs were 1F+ to P hard and sat on top of a lower density layer of 4F+ to 1F hard storm snow. The slabs and relative weak layer appeared well bonded to rain/melt-freeze crust below. No cracking, collapsing, or other obvious signs of instability were observed. ECTN results were very repeatable.

Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

20130223 Andesite Ridge.MOV

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
50% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Wind Direction: 
Northeast
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: