Observation: Bald Mountain

Observation Date
3/1/2016
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas » Mirror Lake Highway » Bald Mountain
Location Name or Route
Mirror Lk. Bald Mt.
Weather
Sky
Scattered
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Mostly cloudy this morning with some brief periods of sunshine in the afternoon. The winds from a westerly direction were quite steady and blustery along the higher terrain.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
2"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
It looked like about 2-3" of new snow from yesterday's front that moved through. The trail conditions this morning were quite hard, but things did soften some throughout the day. Up around the Bald Mt. area, the wind has been working over the snow surface creating some rough textured snow and some pockety wind slab looking conditions.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Cracking
Red Flags Comments
I think the red flag issues will be along the higher terrain like the Bald Mt. area. If there is any wind around the Uintas seem to have it along with the related wind loading problems.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
I was finding shallow, but a rather hard wind slab that was reactive today with the weight of a person. This wind slab is sitting on top of a grauple layer that developed from yesterday's warm front that passed through the area. With the sustained winds the last two days some of these hard wind slabs are likely deeper and not so manageable if a person is riding in the higher terrain.
Comments
1. The west and northwest winds have really worked over the snow surface in the Bald Mt. area. 2. The overall snow coverage looks fairly ok on this north side of Bald Mt., but it would be a better winter if most of these rocks were covered.
Poking around on this small test slope I was finding this shallow hard wind slab that is siting on a graupel layer that happened yesterday when the front moved through. I would suspect some of these wind slabs to be deeper and not so manageable up along the high ridgelines and bigger open bowls. I felt a moderate hazard for this issue, but in select terrain and a low hazard elsewhere.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low