Observation: White Pine

Observation Date
2/24/2019
Observer Name
Bruce Tremper
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » White Pine
Location Name or Route
White Pine
Weather
Sky
Scattered
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Strong
Weather Comments
Extremely lovely day with mostly sunny skies with fast-moving, fast changing clouds zooming past all day like giant, natural sculptures circling the Earth. Strong wind at upper elevations moving snow around, stronger towards the end of the day when wind was moving snow even down in the mountain valley bottoms.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
4"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
I have to admit this was a delightful day of skiing on about 5 inches of medium density snow on top of a spongy base, plus the coverage is superb and you can finally have fun on slopes that are usually filled with small firs and alder. And we only saw a handful of small parties in the entire drainage today--on a Sunday. The wind has done quite a bit of damage above about 10,000' making lots of firm windboard. But in the mid and lower elevation, wind and sun sheltered trees, it was one of the funnest days I've had in a long time.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
The only problem today was the strong, ridgetop winds that were redistributing snow on pretty much any slope above treeline. By the end of the day, the winds seemed to pick up and were getting down into the trees in the mountain valleys, knocking snow bombs out of the trees and making miniature blizzards from the snow in the trees. The wind slabs were not cracking very much because they were so hard and dense but it looked like it was really loading slopes such as the north gullies on Birthday Chutes and similar terrain. The hazard would probably be Low with the exception of Moderate hazard in avalanche terrain with recent wind deposits. The wind has swirled around most every direction in the high mountain cirques so you can find them on any aspect.
Comments
I added a few photos to show some of the wind damage at upper elevations and the amazing coverage of our deep snowpack.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate