Observation: American Fork

Observation Date
1/20/2019
Observer Name
Anthony, Luke, Dean
Region
Provo » American Fork
Location Name or Route
American Fork
Red Flags
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall
Wind Loading
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Saw one crown way above where we skied (est. 10200' ?) with considerable hangfire above which makes sense given the intensity of the wind the last few days. Lower in elevation the cornices weren't terribly large and pretty unreactive. The wind was probably 15-20 mph around 8500' plus and started to drop as this next storm rolled in. I would be concerned about isolated wind slabs being covered by this new storm snow over the next couple days.
Snow Profile
Aspect
Northeast
Elevation
9,300'
Comments
Overall pretty stable, stayed fairly low elevation and found the goods. Found two layers of graupel, one at approx. 165 cm and one that failed on ECT-P 22 that we found surprising. NE facing, about 9300' and 20-30 ft down from the crest of a ridge. It didn't fail with much energy but I could see it triggering a slide if you caught a pocket of graupel at the right place with some force. Overall quite stable though, the snow has settled well and the warm air is helping it along, it felt pretty good but hard to really judge avy danger when you stay in easily manageable terrain. Pics of the graupel and ECT failure below.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable