Observation Date
2/25/2013
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas
Location Name or Route
Whitney Basin-Moffit Peak
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Nice start to the day with clear skies and below zero temperatures in town. High clouds moved in early afternoon and light winds along the ridgelines.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
10"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Wind Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
A nice needed storm for the area with 10-12" new snow that mostly filled in all the old tracks. Riders were enjoying the fresh powder with some over the hood conditions where the wind had blown in spots. Along the exposed ridgelines the winds had really been at work, creating some dense wind slabs that I was able to get a couple of low rumbling collapses.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Collapsing
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
I observed some natural avalanche activity from the weekend storm and things seemed to involve the new storm snow. Off the ridgelines the recent steady winds created some dense hard wind slabs that rapidly developed and quickly overloaded the underlying snow, resulting in some pockety natural avalanches.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
The wind slabs today would still crack a couple of feet deep and confined to the area around your skis or sled, but did not have much energy to get any slides going. I did get a couple of isolated collapses on some large rounded wind pillows along the exposed ridgelines.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
Still cannot forget about the persistent weak layer still buried a few feet deep. The recent storms have not quite put the load on the snow pack to activate this layer, however it's still possible to trigger a slide from a shallow weak spot that fails on this layer.
Comments
A quick trip into the Whitney Basin to see how the snow pack dealt with the storm. Just some isolated natural activity on mainly north through east aspects and involved the new snow.
