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Weather Summary

Feeling like winter up high, cold and windy with a good dose of sun. There were clouds hanging over many of the larger mountains in the area which may have been accompanied by some very light precip. No precipitation on baldy.

Snowpack Observations

Outside of the ski area boundary, a thin and faceted snowpack exists on all shaded slopes that I looked at. HS=25-35cm, the upper 10 -15cm are F to F- facets sitting on a degrading crust (1F-) Beneath this crust are slightly stronger facets (4F) sitting on a 3-5cm thick crust on the ground. As the storm progresses and the slab thickens it would not be entirely surprising to see avalanches starting in the upper facets and gouging down to near the ground, removing most of the season's snow cover. In any event, the upper facets do not look good and are entirely capable of producing avalanches. I expect stability to decrease rapidly as the storm progresses, particularly on slopes on the shaded half of the compass.

Terrain Use

Terrain selection was constrained by lack of snow, not by avalanche hazard. This will change rapidly in coming days.