Date: 15/08/2020
Conditions Summary
There was a weak crust recovery yesterday morning in the subalpine (i.e. the surface had refrozen but only a little).
By midday this crust had become moist and was deteriorating from light rain and warm temperatures. The silver lining was that this did make for more enjoyable turns. :)
However, by mid afternoon, the top 30-40cm of the snowpack had lost cohesion and was “isothermal” (all one temperature of 0 degrees) and the turns became a little more challenging in the heavy and sticky conditions.
There were no observations made in the alpine.
Alpine Conditions
Sub-Alpine Conditions
Daily Discussion:
In the alpine, the rain over night has changed to snow and there is currently 5cm and falling. The snow fell with light SE winds and will be mostly evenly distributed. Freezing level is forecast to increase to 2000m during the day so expect a mix of rain and snow.
Bring extra layers. It is going to be a wet day.
Be prepared for whiteout navigation.
The rain is deteriorating the snowpack and in the sub-alpine the snow is loosing its strength. Watch for unstable snow in isolated terrain features.
Confidence: STRONG
Good field observations in the previous days.
We need your eyes too. If you’ve been touring in the Alpine National Park we’d love to know what you have seen. Every little bit helps.
Weather Summary
Cloudy. Very high (95%) chance of snow. The chance of a thunderstorm from late this morning. Winds south to southeasterly 20 to 30 km/h tending south to southwesterly 25 to 35 km/h in the late morning and afternoon.(Source: BOM)
