Observation: Monitors

Observation Date
3/1/2020
Observer Name
Wilson, Feinberg, Hardesty
Region
Salt Lake » Park City Ridgeline » Monitors
Location Name or Route
Monitors
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Light snowfall all day, calm and mild temperatures. Sun never impacted the snow in this area.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
4"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Went to the Monitors to see if the new snow would fail at the interface with older facets or crusts. While the several inches sluffed easily on steep slopes, it moved slowly and didn't run far. Tilt test showed easiest shear plane was within the storm snow, about an inch above the crust. In practice, loose snow ran down to the dirty underlying old snow surface. Athough there were facets below the crusts, we didn't see any stability concerns in the old snow with the relatively small amount of new snow load today. All the new snow was unconsolidated, and couldn't find anywhere with any slab-like tendencies.
The crust ranged from 3cm of relativety stout melt freeze on south, to thin temperature crust on the northern aspects. In some locations the crust had refrozen completely, while it remained spongy and moist (and well bonded) in most terrain we traveled.
Video
With direct March sunshine forecast tomorrow, might see loose wet activity in the new snow on solar aspects.
Lack of winds led to overall low danger on our tour today.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None
Coordinates