Planned Website Outage: The UAC website will be down for maintenance on June 17 from 2:00 - 7:00 PM MT.
Ad
The National Forest Service Logo
icon-add Observation
Forecasts
Logan Ogden Salt Lake Provo Uintas Skyline Moab Abajos Weather Archives How to read the forecast
Observations & Avalanches
Submit Observation Observations Explorer All Observations Avalanches Fatalities Weather Place Names Map Archives
Education
Avalanche Class List UAC Class List Online Classes Resources and Tutorials Avalanche Awareness Develop Skills
Events
Store
About
Contact Who we are Core Values Staff Board of Directors Past Forecasters Sponsors Annual Reports Sign In
Blog
icon-add Observation
Donate / Join

Observation: Meadows

Observation Date
1/14/2018
Observer Name
Glew
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Silver Fork » Meadows
Location Name or Route
Meadow Chutes
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Really warm and no wind.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Faceted Loose
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments

The snow was gettng cooked on SW-S-SE aspects. Thin surface hoar on many slopes even up to the ridges. Dug a pit on a NE facing aspect at 9,500 ft. Slope angle 20 degrees. HS 100 cm. CT12 Q1 failing on depth hoar. ECTP24 SC also failing on depth hoar.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Rapid Warming
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Poor structure in snowpack. Rain crust noted up to about 9000 ft with facets below. The avalanche from a couple days ago in Bananna Days was rather impressive. There were also fair amount of recent tracks in steeper northerly facing slopes in the Meadows with no signs of avalanches. I was not sold on hoping into those slopes as well based off the current state of the snowpack. There are many slight aspect changes in Meadows which I feel like many people don't realize. Just beacause you see tracks down a slope doesn't mean it's safe. The tracks you see are on a SE aspect and if you ski just to the right of them, well your now on a NE aspect which is much less safe right now. It's a tricky situation out there currently.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable