Observation Date
12/5/2018
Observer Name
Travis Nauman
Region
Moab
Location Name or Route
Dark Side
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Wind Direction
South
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Spooky overcast day with varied winds depending on one's level of topographic exposure.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
Wind crusts forming on exposed areas. Powder in the trees.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Collapsing
Red Flags Comments
Some collapsing. Mostly in flatter untouched areas, but we did have some collapsing and sloughing on the north slopes we skied. The recent storm snow hadn't consolidated into a cohesive slab on the north faces, but one of us did kick off a ~15 wide slab down to the old October snow on a slightly steeper roll over. This definitely caught our attention after our snow pit indicated that the storm interface had made significant progress in building bond strength. Still have to be mindful of the facets at the bottom.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Still a weak interface between recent storm snow and the October hurricane snow. The October snow also has two pockets of facets which have a little bit of bonding strength, but still collapse when you poke at them a bit.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments
Wind was moving significant snow today blowing from a southerly direction. Areas with accumulated snow will have risk for wind slabs which could step down to lower weak layers.
Snow Profile
Aspect
Northeast
Elevation
10,700'
Slope Angle
27°
Comments
We got failures at 74 cm (probably dividing two waves of snow in last storm), and 45 cm (Oct snow interfact) that did now propagate in the ECT test. We were surprised how much stronger these were after only a couple days. After kicking off the small new snow slab and having plenty of medium size collapses, I think avalanche risk is still considerable.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
