Planned Website Outage: The UAC website will be down for maintenance on June 17 from 2:00 - 7:00 PM MT.
Ad
The National Forest Service Logo
icon-add Observation
Forecasts
Logan Ogden Salt Lake Provo Uintas Skyline Moab Abajos Weather Archives How to read the forecast
Observations & Avalanches
Submit Observation Observations Explorer All Observations Avalanches Fatalities Weather Place Names Map Archives
Education
Avalanche Class List UAC Class List Online Classes Resources and Tutorials Avalanche Awareness Develop Skills
Events
Store
About
Contact Who we are Core Values Staff Board of Directors Past Forecasters Sponsors Annual Reports Sign In
Blog
icon-add Observation
Donate / Join

Observation: Big Cottonwood Canyon

Observation Date
1/18/2018
Observer Name
Greg Gagne
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon
Location Name or Route
LCC -> BCC
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
Southwest
Weather Comments
I've experienced colder July 4ths in Vermont.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments

Wanted to look at snow surface ahead of a hopefully approaching winter storm. Was finding faceted snow and ~5 mm surface hoar on northwest through northeast aspects above about 9k. Warmth and pre-frontal winds will erode these weaknesses at the surface, but would not be surprised to find some weaknesses to remain intact and preserved underneath storm snow.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments

So many weak layers throughout our snowpack on aspects facing northwest through east. Overall the snowpack seems to have adjusted to the wind and storm snow from last week, but these weaknesses are likely to show their hand once again as we put a new load on top.

Comments

Photos of weak snow at the surface, as well as overall weak snowpack. Would not be surprised to find avalanching in any layer.

Video of weak snowpack structure.

If storm holds together, avalanche hazard will be back at Considerable or High by the weekend.

Video
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable