Observation Date
12/3/2012
Observer Name
Jason Konigsberg
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
Cardiff Fork
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Thin cloud cover this morning and no wind. Skies started to clear by 2pm.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
3"
New Snow Density
High
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
New snow started with graupel and very high density snow and ended with an inch of low density snow on the surface. Scattered non-reactive wind slabs. Snow right off the ridge was generally a 2-3" hard slab. Once down off the ridge you could find some protected snow especially in terrain features.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Minor cracking around skies. Amount of new snow was inconsequential.
Poor upper snowpack structure but lack of slab.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Didn't find any evidence of reactive wind slabs but still may be an issue in high alpine terrain.
Snow Profile Comments
Not any more than 4" of new snow in area traveled today. Not much of a slab to overload weak snow in upper snowpack. Wind drifts were not much deeper and not reactive to ski cuts.
Basal layer of faceted snow is moist, as most have reported, but keep finding (in numerous locations) a few cms of dry facets below the slab.
Coordinates
