Observation Date
1/26/2019
Observer Name
Derek DeBruin
Region
Ogden » Ben Lomond » Cutler Ridge
Location Name or Route
Ben Lomond, Cutler Ridge
Weather
Weather Comments
Fairly cold this morning, low teens at the trailhead around 0900. However, the day was ultimately bluebird with clear skies, warm temps (probably approaching freezing), and very little wind. There was light wind on the proper knob of Dead Tree, but pretty calm otherwise. Clouds began to increase into the late afternoon. Ridgeline winds were evident with some snow transport. Rooster tails were most pronounced at the Ben Lomond saddle, though points north from Ben Lomond to Willard Peak and occasionally south toward Chilly Peak had enough wind to make blowing snow visible from below. Recent wind events were obviously quite intense, though; we noted two live, mature pines knocked over from wind with large vertical splits up the center of their trunks.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
Mixed bag of not that great. I only checked "powder" as there must have been at least one turn of actual powder out there somewhere. Lots of wind effect was evident from a pretty wide spread event that reached farther than normal into the terrain. Sheltered mid elevation snow was hard to find as a result. Better turns were had at lower mid elevations/upper low elevations instead, owing to widespread surface hoar. Conditions were obviously calm last night as large surface was abundant throughout the low elevations and continued up as high as 7900ft (decreasing in size with increasing elevation). It was kinda interesting to see sparkly, feathery sastrugi. Unfortunately, wind-affected snow was quite hard packed and as a result the surface hoar at mid elevations didn't have enough time to soften things much. I'm sure there's still a couple soft turns in well-protected mid elevation northerlies, but it seems to be diminishing returns at this point.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Red Flags Comments
Wind loading was evident, but noted no cracking, collapsing, or any significant slab problems at the low/mid elevations.
Worth nothing that while we expected some damp snow, maybe some rollerballs, etc. on low elevation solars, the pieces didn't quite fall into place for this today. In other words, the back up plan to ski sun-softened southerlies in the afternoon didn't pan out.
Noted no recent avalanche activity.
Comments
Did some hand digging in a couple spots at low elevation and again at the mid elevation. Nothing too significant at mid elevation. Visible wind effect, but otherwise smallish surface hoar on top of right side up in the top couple feet. At low elevation, large surface hoar was found atop a fragile ~2cm sun crust, which has me on the lookout for near-surface facets. The older rain crust was 15-20cm below this with damp snow below the crust. I'll be interested to see what happens given the forecast for a another half-dozen days with minimal/no precip.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate
