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Observation: Cardiac Bowl

Observation Date
1/14/2019
Observer Name
T Diegel
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork » Cardiac Bowl
Location Name or Route
Cardiac bowl/ridge area
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Direction
Southeast
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
I've heard wise old Avy sages say that nothing good comes from an east wind, but if this breeze today portends a change in the weather towards more precip, I'll take it. tried to take a pic of loading from E to W but couldn't get it to load. it was not enough to create actual depositing, but perhaps some unusual slab development in high/steep terrain?
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
A bit of wind crust but it seems to have broken down a bit from the dire reports of last week. What I found that I found important was that the surface snow at 10k hadn't really faceted much and I could easily create a snowball (see pic), which to me potentially portends well for decent bonding of this snow to the new snow coming in over the next few days.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem #1 Comments
maybe some high/exposed slab development, but I tested that a little and had no problem.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Problem #2 Comments
I dug a small hole and found a pretty decent shear layer about 2+ feet down. Though as noted above maybe the new snow will bond well to the old snow surface, a biggish (and wettish?) load might be able to overload that layer?
Seems to me that our early season near-ground faceting is now a thing of the past and that a moderate load with a person on it won't be enough to awaken that beast?
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low