Observation: Cardiff Bowl

Observation Date
3/22/2016
Observer Name
mark white
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Bowl
Location Name or Route
Cardiff Bowl, East Hellgate
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Precipitation
Moderate Snowfall
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Snowing hard in the AM letting up a bit in the afrernoon then socking back in until I left at 3:00pm, moderate winds from the NW most of the day maybe letting up a bit in the afternoon.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
7"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

7 inches of fairly light density powder sitting on a melt freeze crust. Some what wind affected on the high ridge lines. The melt freeze crust was more frozen than I expected on the lower angle, but I could still punch my pole through it on the steeper terrain.

Comments

Took a trip up Cardiff Bowl today to see how the new snow was bonding to the old melt freeze crust, seemed fairly well bonded in the non wind affected terrain, it would sluff but the sluffing was limited to the top couple inches of new snow. Once I was up on the ridge line where cornices were forming and calving of naturally and the new snow was loading and some what slabbed up by the wind, the new snow would crack out in chunks of slab and run on the old melt-freeze crust. I was able to remotely trigger cornices from a distance and when they hit the slope they would propagate out through the wind affected snow and run into lower angle terrain. Probably not a big deal unless you were in unforgiving steep terrain like the south face of Superior. I would think these wind slabs will settle out quickly a not be a major player unless we get a decent amount of new snow with increasing wind speeds. I have a feeling that when the sun hits the new snow it's going to want to slide on the old slick bed surface with a little prodding and might end up entraining quite a bit of snow in steeper terrain.

Photos: wind slabs on the the ridge lines easily triggered from a distance. sorry about photo quality, between bad light and using a phone camera its the best I could do.

Hazard depends on new snow amounts and wind transport.

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