West Willow Basin

Location Name: 
West Willow East Ridge
Region: 
Silver Valley Area
Date and time of observation: 
Sun, 02/21/2021 - 13:30
Location Map: 
United States
47° 26' 58.2072" N, 115° 45' 39.384" W
See map: Google Maps
US


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

Observations from West Willow Basin from elevations of ~4500' to ~5400'. Travelling up the East side of West Willow today presented an opportunity to see how the various avalanche problems from the last couple of weeks (Wind Slabs, Storm Slabs, and Persistent Slabs) have adjusted to loading and warming last week.

Ultimately, tests from below 5000' over the last two weeks have demonstrated a significant break down of the buried surface hoar, our Persisitent Week Layer. lower in elevation. However, it is now turning into some classic near surface faceting with the other layers in the melt freeze sandwiches from early January with low/moderate strength.

Above 5000' is a different story. Temps have stayed cold, wind has loaded almost all aspects, and heavy new snow is on the way this week. The attached video demonstrates that the buried surface hoar is still reactive, and still touchy. Travel plans have been adjusted to avoid all steep terrain on both approach and descent and we are mindful of loaded aspects. Choose safe, have fun!

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

East West Willow Ridge 2/21/2021

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: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: