Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies

      CODOS Quick Links

Colorado Dust-on-Snow (CODOS)
With direct funding support from stakeholders, CODOS monitors the presence/absence of dust layers at 11 mountain pass locations throughout Colorado.

With those data, data from nearby Snotel sites, and weather forecasts, CODOS provides its funders with a series of “Update” analyses of how dust-on-snow is likely to influence snowmelt timing and rates during the snowmelt runoff season.


Become a Friend of CSAS:
The Center for Snow & Avalanche Studies serves the mountain science community and regional resource managers by hosting & conducting interdisciplinary research and conducting integrative 24/7/365 monitoring that captures weather, snowpack, radiation, soils, plant community and hydrologic signals of regional climate trends.
Follow snowstudies on Twitter

Find us on Facebook


     CODOS Updates > D7 Dust-on-Snow Alert

CODOS Dust-on-Snow Event Alert - D7-WY 2013, April 13-14

Stormy April greetings from Silverton -

Late yesterday afternoon (Sunday, April 14) CSAS staff verified and collected samples of a new dust-on-snow deposition at Senator Beck Basin - event D7-WY2013.  This event began on WSW'ly winds near nightfall Saturday and continued during the beginning of CSAS Storm #20 in the early hours of Sunday morning as winds swung to WNW.  This D7 event was of much lower intensity than the recent D6 event, here at Senator Beck Basin.  

The photo below shows D7 as a band just above a melt/freeze crust at the top of the thicker, and much stronger, D6 layer.

Since this was largely a nighttime event, followed by significant new snow, this was a stealthy dust-on-snow deposition and we have not yet heard reports of D7 at other locations.   

More soon,
Chris

Chris Landry, Executive Director
clandry@snowstudies.org
Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies
PO Box 190, Silverton, CO 81433 USA
(970) 387-5080
www.snowstudies.org