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Observation Date
4/14/2016
Observer Name
C Brown
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Flagstaff Ridge
Location Name or Route
Flagstaff
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Precipitation
Moderate Snowfall
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Very bad visablity and blowing snow as we ascended Flagg around 4pm. Temps down at the car felt almost balmy. Felt like winter again up on the ridgeline with the winds. As we drove down the canyon after 6pm the valley was clearing and the clearing was moving up the canyon.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
7"
New Snow Density
High
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments

New snow was fairly dense and mixed throughout with graupel. The snow was definitely moving around like it was graupel, but there was quite a bit of regular precip particles. Old snow underneath was completely rain saturated, and you could punch your pole through as far as you wanted. Skiing <35* was fairly pleasant. You could stay on top of the new snow with fat skis. Much steeper than that started to punch through into the mush.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall
Wind Loading
Cracking
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Did see some cracking, not too many shooting cracks. The unsupportable rain saturated snow under the new snow was the biggest concern/red flag to me yesterday evening. The winds were blowing, transporting snow and forming the new dense snow into slabs. Would expct there to be some wind slabs lingering around on Friday, espically in some crossloaded areas. Not too confident that the cooler temps yesterday and last night will have locked up the saturated snowpack that I was seeing at least up to 10,300. Would think we will need at least 2 full days to lock that mess up.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wet Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments

This became a concern of mine as I saw how high, and how deep into the pack the rain saturated goo was. Would think this problem will hopefully diminish very soon with the cooler temps and if the water was able to drain out through the pack.

Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments

Definitely saw some wind slabs in the making yesterday. They are living along upper ridge lines as well as cross loaded ribs/ridges.

Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None