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Observation Date
3/11/2014
Observer Name
Paradis
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Grizzly Gulch
Location Name or Route
Grizzly Gulch
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Wind Direction
North
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
At 4pm sky was largely cloudy but started to clear by 7pm. Generally light winds.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
8"
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

New snow did a good job of covering old melt-freeze crust and was generally of good quality/not wind effected. As noted in today's forecast, the wind did create some drifts up to 1.5' feet deep along ridgelines. These were pretty soft and didn't produce long running cracks. At 7pm west facing snow just above Alta had a very minor zipper crust.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall
Red Flags Comments
Wind loading seemed limited to ridgelines, at least in the areas travelled (mostly S and W) so didn't select that as red flag.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments

The new snow generally seemed well behaved and reasonably well attached to the melt freeze crust. Small loose snow avalanches/sluffing was common today but these were manageable. Tomorrow warming will make for wet loose activity.

Snow Profile
Aspect
Southwest
Elevation
10,000'
Slope Angle
20°
Comments

The profile is generally representative of the snow structured observed today. There was a bit of grauple right above the crust indicating a good bit of turbulence early in the storm. The crust was generally pretty strong although we did find at least two places where we were able to punch through it on skis. After the new snow, the snow directly below the crust was also fairly weak.

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