Beginning of Storm - Gray Butte

On a tour up Gray Butte early in today's storm, winds were calm to light and 2-5 inches of new light snow were encountered. No wind slabs were forming. Conditions were very "sloughy". New snow was not bonded to the underlying melt-freeze crust that had formed yesterday and sloughs were easy to trigger.

Snow from Saturday's storm is thin and has an upside down configuration - a melt-freeze crust on top of light snow on top of the old, hard pre-Saturday crust. CT tests indicate a concerning weakness in the light snow between the two crusts. See photo below. More snow and weight could activate this weakness.  

• Observation Location: Gray Butte
• Elevation: 7.600 ft
• Date: 20210308
• Time: 1500
• Observer: Aaron Beverly
• Sky Conditions: Obscured (X)
• Current Precipitation: Type - SN , Rate - S2
• Air Temperature: 19 °F
• Surface Penetration: Ski penetration (PS) = 2-5 in ( 5-14 cm)
• Total Snow Depth (HS): 87 in (220 cm)
• 24-hour New Snow Depth (HN24): 5 in (14 cm)
• Wind Direction: SW
• Wind Speed: Light (L), 1-16 mi/hr
• Column & Block Tests:
  • Slope Angle & Aspect: 28º, SE
  • ECTN4 ↓ 6 in (15 cm), ECTP20 ↓ 6 in (15 cm)
  • CTV SP ↓ 6 in (15 cm), CT8 SP ↓ 6 in (15 cm)