Observation Date
12/28/2019
Observer Name
Kennard, Nauman, Quinn, Levine
Region
Moab
Location Name or Route
Noriega's Ridge
Weather
Sky
Broken
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Our party was pleasantly surprised today that the weather we encountered in the mountains was not the same as the weather that we had read in the forecast. Although temperatures were in the teens with a brief visit to the low 20's the strong winds that were called for never made an appearance and we did not find -10 windchill. We did have a brief light snow shower, some cloudy sky and a few moments of sunshine and now wind to speak of, even when we were on top of Noriega's.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
9"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
The snow that fell yesterday was very low density and made for some great powder turns. Even up on the ridge line we found good low density powder that had not been affected by the wind.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Collapsing
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
We had 2 large collapses on our tour today. One was near the top of the ridge around 10'000 feet in an open northwest facing glade and the other was on the last climb before the summit of Noriega's. We also found facets in the old snow when we dug a pit. See the pit profile for more details
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
The new snow from yesterday appeared to have bonded well with the snow from the Christmas eve storm, however with the low density of the snow and increasing winds in the forecast I would expect things to get a little more interesting over the next couple of days.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments
There is a weak layer at the new old snow interface that has failed in both pits we have dug in the past week. We also noticed faceting in the old snow. If we start seeing a lot of wind loading in the next few days I could see this weak layer becoming more active.
Snow Profile
Aspect
Northwest
Elevation
10,200'
Slope Angle
24°
Comments
We dug our pit at 10,200 feet on a northwest-facing slope. We did an extended column test and got a ECTP26 at the interface of the Christmas storm and the old snow from. The column failed on a layer small facets with some graupel. this is the same layer that we had a failure on 2 days ago.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
Coordinates
