Check out our Holiday Auction - Sign Up for the Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop (USAW)
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 Place Names Map Archives
Education
Avalanche Awareness Develop Skills On-Snow Courses Resources and Tutorials
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: Twin Lakes Pass

Observation Date
4/2/2023
Observer Name
Hardesty
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Grizzly Gulch » Twin Lakes Pass
Location Name or Route
Twin Lakes Pass
Weather
Sky
Broken
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Moderate southwest winds with occasional strong gusts. Extensive wind transported snow noted off the Patsy and Twin Lakes ridgelines.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
Maritime. Warm and dense.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
Wind transport taking place even well off the ridgelines; Figure 8 Hill on the Brighton side seemed to be seeing significant wind drifted snow. Terrain channelling led to wind transport also on south and west slopes at mid-elevations.
At the 2004 ISSW in Jackson, WY, Stevens Pass snow safety lead Patty Morrison presented a paper that highlighted her research on terrain channelling at her ski area.
Instead of dropping cornices to test the sensitivity of the wind drifted snow, I kept well away. Cornices are too large to be trifled with.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
The early week snirt layer was buried roughly 50cm down in the mid-elevations. I found no reactivity with testing at or adjacent to this layering.
Comments
Forecasting Challenges for Monday -
I would expect the new snow to come in and bond well to the pre-existing snow surfaces; however this may be all academic if we see the forecast high snowfall rates. Good structure with this storm. See weather.utah.edu NAEFS plumes for Alta tomorrow - high PI spiking at 6am Monday see below. Similarly, models suggest not much wind with the passage of the trof axis tomorrow...only to have the northwest winds ramping up again in the late afternoon. Rapidly changing conditions will be the name of the game. We'll see how things shake out.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
None
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None
Coordinates