Observation: Laurel Highway

Observation Date

11/2/2026

Observer Name

Chris B./Karin P./Max L.

Region

Moab » Laurel Highway

Location Name or Route

Coyote Chute

Weather

Sky

Obscured

Precipitation

Light Snowfall

Wind Direction

Northwest

Wind Speed

Light

Weather Comments

Started touring with some light to moderate precip (snow!) and warm temps. Later in the morning it transitioned into low visibility fog that made skiing in the trees much more preferable.

Snow Characteristics

New Snow Depth

12"

New Snow Density

High

Snow Surface Conditions

Powder

Damp

Snow Characteristics Comments

Storm snow at 11,400 was about 30 of dry snow with dense moist snow below. This dense snow skied well although on the denser side. It was predicable and had good supportive fast skiing. Its worth noting that snow depth increases markedly with elevation with the last couple of very warm storms....

Red Flags

Rapid Warming

Red Flags Comments

The biggest issue seems to be a large load of snow and SWE in a short amount of time. Something like1.5" of SWE in the last 24hr and perhaps a bit more liquid precip (looks like the precip is down on the snotel) Wind station has been down, but likely the winds have been cranking during the last 24 hrs as well. ECTP down 50 cm on 29 was observed but with low confidence, and would like to repeat the test in several locations. It did fail between the wet new snow and older dry snow.

Avalanche Problem #1

Problem

Wind Drifted Snow

Trend

Decreasing Danger

Problem #1 Comments

I suppose wet snow is the problem until temps lock things up. It was kinda strange to find 1 m of snow on the ground in early Nov. (albeit it was probably a sheltered wind deposition zone) Lots of moist snow and a good chuck of the pack was hovering around 0 C. The rain/wet snow was confined to the upper 50 cm of the pack- no evidence of melting of the stout Oct. 20 Rain crust and didn't see evidence of water making its way all the way down to this crust either. Looks like we will get some good freezes above 10K this week, so this should set the stage for a pretty strong set up. Will need to watch for facets near crusts.

Snow Profile

Aspect

North

Elevation

11,400'

Slope Angle

30°

Today's Observed Danger Rating

Moderate

Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating

Low

Coordinates

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