Date / Region: 18/07/2020 NSWMainRange
Advisory Confidence: STRONG
Alpine Conditions
Sub-Alpine Conditions
Mountain environments can be categorised as above or below the tree line, thus Alpine and Subalpine respectively. Find out more about how these types of terrain can create or mitigate backcountry hazards here.
Travel & Terrain advice:
Widespread surface crust at all elevations in the morning due to cold overnight temps. Beware of slide risk on steep slopes. At lower elevations the ice crust will become breakable as daytime temps increase. Best chance of good conditions is on protected north aspects during the middle of the day. The snow depth is great and the Main Range is well covered.
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Observations Summary
Snow Surface Conditions Summary
Widespread surface crust with some sastrugi up high. On solar aspects and lower elevations the crust is becoming breakable as temps increase during the day, with ‘slumping’ creating a very textured and variable surface. Bushes and rocks reappearing around 1700m.
Windward aspects: SE - S - SW
Alpine depth: 1m+ Sub-Alpine depth: 90cm
Leeward aspects: NW - N - NE
Alpine depth: 1m+ Sub-Alpine depth: 75cm
Weather Summary
Light NW winds, increasing to moderate in the afternoon. Very cold temps overnight, increasing to a max of 3 in the alpine and 5 in the sub-alpine. Mostly sunny. The next cold front looks set to cross southeastern parts of the state late on Sunday and during Monday. Behind this, a new high pressure ridge will extend across the state from the west. [Source:BOM]