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Observation: Days Fork
Observation Date
1/16/2019
Observer Name
T Diegel, Gregersen
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork
Location Name or Route
Days Fork
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Precipitation
Moderate Snowfall
Weather Comments
not as much wind as we anticipated this morning
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
9"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
The 8" reported at Alta was not quite as dense as we anticipated relative to the warmish temps (ie it skied quite "light"), but was dense enough to create soft slabs that ran as fast-running sluffs in 36+ degree terrain. We were able to easily manage it with cuts/traverses, but for sure at a certain point "sluffs" become avalanches; when is that?
Red Flags
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall
Red Flags Comments
Snowfall wasn't really heavy this morning, but clearly it snowed a good bit overnight. Of important note, based on what I saw in the same zone on Monday (fairly warm and dense snow that I thought might bond well to the new snow) I though there might be pretty good bonding to the new snow, but this was NOT the case; sluffing was happening very easily on north and east aspects (less so on the south facing rolls that had a sun crust). It makes me realize that adding a lot more snow and even a little wind will indeed create pretty spicy avy conditions. And even this morning's moderate snowfall seemed to make the conditions change in the few hours that we were out; with some pretty spicy storms on our doorstep it will be important to know that what's forecasted in the morning could well change with high precip intensity rates over the course of the day.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments
a quick pit I dug the other day in the Cardiac area indicated a weakness about 2.5 feet down. Could the new load awaken that? Or a could the impact of a new-snow slide step down to that layer? That would make for a BIG deal if so.....
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable