Observation Date
11/26/2022
Observer Name
Gagne/Duvernay
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Guardsman Pass area
Location Name or Route
Guardsman Pass/PC Ridgeline
Comments
The past two days I have been looking where the weak snow can be found ahead of what is hopefully a stormy week. There is plenty of weak, faceted snow at the surface on the shady slopes on the northern half of the compass. I have been focusing more on the "off" aspects that have some east and west. Here is what I have found after looking at the snowpack in upper LCC and BCC as well as portions of the PC ridgeline near Guardsman Pass area:
- Aspects facing northwest through north through east are dry facets and this is the weakest snow.
- Aspects facing southwest/south/southeast are crusted from strong sunshine and warm temperatures on Saturday. There are weaker facets underneath the crusts, but these aspects most likely will not have a lingering persistent weak layer (PWL) problem that the northerly aspects hold.
- I am generally finding west aspects are crusted, but I also found a thin 5mm layer of faceted snow (from radiation recrystallization or RR) on top of the crusts. I don't expect this RR to be a widespread problem, but there may be a few isolated pockets where RR exists. Ordinarily, RR facets are destroyed by warmer temperatures and winds ahead of a cold front.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low
Coordinates