Ad
The National Forest Service Logo
icon-add Observation
Forecasts
Logan Ogden Salt Lake Provo Uintas Skyline Moab Abajos Weather Archives How to read the forecast
Observations & Avalanches
Submit Observation Observations Explorer All Observations Avalanches Fatalities Weather Place Names Map Archives
Education
Avalanche Class List UAC Class List Online Classes Resources and Tutorials Avalanche Awareness Develop Skills
Events
Store
About
Contact Who we are Core Values Staff Board of Directors Past Forecasters Sponsors Annual Reports Sign In
Blog
icon-add Observation
Donate / Join

Observation: Little Water

Observation Date
4/11/2019
Observer Name
Bruce Tremper
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Mill D North » Little Water
Location Name or Route
Little Water Peak
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
North
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Typical changeable spring day in the mountains after a storm. If you don't like the weather, wait a minute. There were occasional patches of sun poking through the thick clouds, occasional heavy snow squalls but mostly nice weather with mountaintop clouds shrouding the peaks.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
12"
New Snow Density
High
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Snow Characteristics Comments
About a foot of dense, heavily rimed snow with graupel layers. It skied with heft but was still fun and surfy. Not enough heat from the sun to make the sun exposed slopes any different than the shaded slopes. Everything rode well. Had the place pretty much to ourselves.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Red Flags Comments
We skied a number of runs off the summit of Little Water Peak, some on the north facing slopes and some on south facing. Not much going on avalanche-wise. The new snow was dense and it fell on a warm, wet or slightly refrozen base so if there were any sensitivities within the new snow, they settled out quickly and everything seemed quite welded in place, including the wind slabs along the ridge.
Comments
The snow was mostly low danger at least on the slopes we skied. We crossed selected slopes of 35 degrees and I felt comfortable with them. I saw some rollerballs starting to form in the lower canyon road cuts on south faces below about 7,000' but everything remained dry at upper elevations on all aspects. As usual in spring, if the sun comes out tomorrow or the next day there will be lots of wet, loose slides in the steep, sun exposed terrain.
Here's a couple photos with the rimed aspens as the main models with humans for scale.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None