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Observation Date
11/18/2012
Observer Name
Robbins
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
Catherine's/Supreme
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Precipitation
Moderate Snowfall
Weather Comments
It was warm and wet today... intermittent showers with all sorts of precipitation. Rain up to around 8500 feet, several periods of graupel, heavy snow at times, light flurries, etc. Visibility also flucuated throughout the day. At times, it was fairly poor with a low cloud ceiling and lots of moisture in the air, and it cleared on occasion.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
12"
New Snow Density
High
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
Hmmm... hard to really call it powder today. How about "new snow"? By the time we were heading out, there was about 12 inches of heavy, dense new snow, interspersed with several layers of graupel. The riding was excellent! Words like 'creamy' and 'buttery' describe todays conditions. Trail breaking was a breeze(?) as well. This snow was just what the current snowpack needed to help solidify some sort of base.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall
Red Flags Comments
Quite a bit of water weight has been added to the snowpack. I'm curious if it will reactivate the patchy depth hoar locations, or if the warm temps during the first half of this storm (followed by some weight and colder temps) will serve to "lock up" the faceted snow at the bottom of the pack on the high north.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
With the various layers of graupel throughout the new snow, there were obvious discontinuities and easy shears in the top 30 cm of snow. I suspect this manifested itself in sensitive soft slabs on steeper terrain at the higher elevations that received the most snow. These will probably remain sensitive throughout tomorrow as the graupel slowly begins to bond in the snowpack.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments
With the added water weight, one would suspect the activity in patchy depth hoar locations would increase. We didn't dig on the high N, so I'm curious to hear how that layer is reacting to this new weight. I'm sort of leaning towards the warm temperature thing that I explained earlier.