Observation: Park City Ridgeline

Observation Date
1/13/2014
Observer Name
Mark White
Region
Salt Lake » Park City Ridgeline
Location Name or Route
PC Ridgeline
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Strong
Weather Comments
The wind continues to blow, out of the SW today in the strong catagory , super annoying on the ridgeline uncovering the rime crust formed Friday night. A little graupel was falling now and then.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
4"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Wind Crust
Rain-Rime Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments

The snow surface consisted of 4 inches of light density new snow and another 3 from yesterday, capped off with a zipper rime crust, all sitting on the stout rime crust from Friday night.

Your classic rime crust sandwich.

Comments

Went back to the PC Ridgeline to see if there was any natural persistent slab activity since my last visit on Friday 1/10. I was a bit surprised that there really was none. I looked at Scott's Peak , No Name Bowl , South Monitor, West Monitor and into Silver and Days. You can still see the slides I reported from Friday clear as day. Also, I spent Saturday in Cardiff and only noted a few pockets that went into old snow , but mostly just new slides.

I am starting to think we did not get a persistent slab avalanche cycle out of this storm. All the slides I've seen have had a trigger in the form of a new snow slide, cornice drop or skier triggered. The two slides I've seen that went to the ground during this storm were, No Name , skier triggered and South Monitor, natural cornice drop triggered. That being said, I would rather see these big slopes avalanche, than be riding the fence and wondering when they will, but I'm not trusting any of the steep NW trough E facing slopes in the near future, I'm thinking there's a reason they call it a persistent slab.

Photos:

New snow sitting on stout rime crust from Friday.

Low cloud deck.

Rime in the trees pointing to the SW.

Sticking with considerable on steep slopes NW through E facing .

Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable