This report does not apply to local ski areas within the forecast region and will remain in effect through Sunday, December 10 th , or if conditions change to a degree that would require another update. High pressure has dominated the region for most of the month of November. We are running pretty much below average in terms of precipitation and snowfall, and the combination of a shallow snow pack and cold temperatures has definitely made things interesting with the existing snow pack right now. With little snow we do have, there are some processes taking place that is making for a very sensitive situation. First of all, there has been some real good surface hoar development on the snow surface.
Surface hoar develops mostly in the evenings when saturated air condenses on the snow surface.
They look like flat, shiny crystals on the snow surface during sunny days and can be a few millimeters to several centimeters thick. Once these crystals are buried, they can be a very unstable layer underneath new snow. This is the situation we have out there right now. And not only do we have surface hoar, we also have some faceted layers within the snow pack that are very sensitive to shear tests. This is what we found on a southeast-facing slope at 5000 feet in the Saint Regis Basin on Wednesday.