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Observation: Shingle Mill Canyon

Observation Date
3/30/2016
Observer Name
Hardesty, Covington, Primomo
Region
Provo » Provo Canyon » South Fork Provo R. » Shingle Mill Canyon
Location Name or Route
Big Springs to Shingle Mill
Weather
Sky
Broken
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
No wind. Intermittent bursts of instability showers and general cloud cover played cat and mouse with the sun. Some greenhousing by early afternoon.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
10"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

Storm snow from 28th/29th holding well from lack of wind and direct sun. Still had to walk in the mud a mile or so from the Big Springs parking lot. Some southeast to southwest slopes will be have a zipper crust in the morning. Same for northerly slopes below roughly 8000' that were affected by greenhousing. By 7500', small push-alanches in the 5" dampened storm snow would run on steep test-slopes on the underlying melt freeze crusts.

Red Flags
Red Flags Comments
Warming the significant factor for today. Later saw a few old size 1.5 naturals from likely Monday night in steep terrain along the ridgeline and below a cliff-band - both running within the storm snow. No cracking, collapsing or other avalanches noted from today.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Problem #1 Comments

Only minor cracking noted on switchbacks 8" down in the storm snow. CT18x2 in same layering noted as well though showed no propagation with ECTs in multiple tests. Only reactive in one mid-slope rollover where the angle increased briefly to over 40 degrees. New/old interface seemed to have a good bond; would imagine storm snow instabilities to be mostly settled out by tomorrow.

Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wet Snow
Problem #2 Comments

Plenty of cold dry snow ready to run with sun/heating.

Comments

Moderate today; forecast tomorrow depends on overnight winds and chance of sun/heating tomorrow.

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