Observation: Little Cottonwood Canyon

Observation Date
3/7/2016
Observer Name
Evelyn
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon
Location Name or Route
7,600' White Pine lot
Weather
Sky
Few
Weather Comments
Beautiful day.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
6"
New Snow Density
High
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

Just a quick stop heading down canyon to look at how the lower elevation snow has handled all the rain it got yesterday.

Comments

A look at a lower elevation south facing slope, 7,600' - about 4 to 6" of dense new snow above rain soaked old dirty snow. New snow seemed well bonded to the old snow. Any shears were within the grauple layer, or within the wet snow, but rough and not consistently repeatable. No results with a shovel tilt test or ECT. So a general feeling of increasing stability, any wet issues tomorrow would be related to strong sun and day time heating, and probably just involve the new snow. A nice layer of grauple fell after it stopped raining.

North facing slopes, 7,600'. About 6 to 8" of new snow; the wet snow layer was thicker than on south, with an ice crust forming mid layer and near the top in places. Again, no results with ECT, and a feeling of mostly stable snow. Seemed like there is still possibility of triggering a wet loose sluff on a very steep northerly facing low elevation slope, though it should be predictable and with care, one should be able to trigger the sluffs from above.

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