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Observation: Whitney Basin

Observation Date
12/19/2020
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas » Bear River Ranger District » Whitney Basin
Location Name or Route
Whitney Basin
Weather
Sky
Broken
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Partly to mostly cloudy depending on your location. Brisk west to northwest winds blowing even into the lower terrain, felt like a cold December day.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Faceted Loose
Snow Characteristics Comments
Generally soft powder conditions with a little bit of body and support still left in the snowpack keeping the sled off the ground. I was finding about 20-24" inches out in the upper Whitney Basin, but I continued to find rocks and logs while I was traveling around.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Wind Loading
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
I noticed a fair amount of recent natural avalanche activity that occurred from the past storm. Not a lot of new snow with Thursdays storm, but add some wind and a few inches to this very weak snowpack and many slopes avalanched naturally. The current conditions are still quite unstable with cracking of the surface snow and I observed a natural avalanche from a very small wind slab that broke off the ridge line and triggered a soft slab avalanche.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
Much of the natural avalanche activity is likely over, but the snow pack is still quite sensitive and is waiting for a trigger. Amazing how little weight was added to the snow pack from the Thursday storm, but it was enough to tip the balance of a weak snow pack.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments
The moderate west to northwest winds had plenty of cold dry powder snow to blow into quite sensitive wind drifts. I observed a natural wind slab break off the Double Hill ridge line and trigger a small soft slab avalanche the would knock a rider off their feet.
Comments
Some good clues of how sensitive the snow pack is right now, these nice safe road cuts easily cracked from a sled.
It was a good day to move around and look at some very recent natural avalanche activity. New snow and wind have overloaded many slopes where the snow pack is very weak with sugary faceted snow.
It only takes a few minutes to dig and find where the weak sugary faceted snow is just below the recent snow from Thursday. I did a quick extended column test and had very unstable test results. It only took 4 taps from my wrist to get this column of snow to crack and propagate across the column, a red flag that the snow pack is very unstable right now.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
Coordinates