Observation Date
1/31/2014
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas » Bear River Ranger District » Gold Hill
Location Name or Route
Gold Hill
Weather
Sky
Broken
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Mostly cloudy with some sunshine filtering through and light snowfall late afternoon.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
10"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
A nice storm for the area with about 10-12" of fairly light density snow which really helped fill things in and cover up the old hard tracks. The riding and turning conditions have really improved with some denser snow that fell early in the storm and nice lighter density snow on top making for quite good conditions this afternoon.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Not many red flag issues in my travels today around Gold Hill. Winds even along the ridge tops were generally light and the wind drifts I stomped around on appear to have settled-out. There was some minor cracking within the new snow in the wind exposed areas around skis and sled, about 12-16" deep and were quite manageable.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
If winds overnight pick-up, the new light density will easily form new and sensitive wind drifts along the ridgelines.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
I did not observe any recent avalanche activity that involved the old faceted snow now buried under the recent storm snow. I would still think in isolated areas mainly those east facing slopes still have the possibility of triggering an avalanche which breaks into old weak snow.
Comments
The snow pack appears to have adjusted to the storm rather well, with only minor sluffing of the new snow. Some wind loading likely has over loaded some slopes which may be sensitive to the additional weight of a rider. Felt like the hazard was in the moderate range with some isolated areas where a considerable hazard exsists.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate
