Shooting cracks at West Willow Peak

Location Name: 
Northeast Ridge up to West Willow Peak at 5500 ft
Region: 
Silver Valley Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sat, 02/09/2019 - 13:00
Location Map: 
United States
47° 26' 53.9124" N, 115° 46' 37.6968" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Whumphing noises, shooting cracks, or collapsing
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Public
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Wind slab was actively forming throughout the day from snow blowing from the west side of West Willow Peak. This wind slab was most notable within the top 40 feet below the ridgeline of the leeward side. We observed a shooting crack about 10 feet long while skinning up the ridge and choose to turn around. The new loose snow from the past storm is 10-30cm deep on top of a hard crust. The new snow was developing a harder wind affected layer on top, in isolated areas where the wind was depositing snow. While leaving the area, it was easy to ski cut small wind affected slabs (10cm in depth) on the eastern side of the ridge above the road. 

Any other comments about the observation or links to outside pages that have more info on the observation: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
75% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Cooling
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: 

Moderate wind with strong gusts was visibly moving snow and creating wind drifts very quickly.