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Observation: Moab

Observation Date
3/28/2020
Observer Name
Garcia/Nauman/Quinn/Grote
Region
Moab
Location Name or Route
Goldminer's and Talking Mountain
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Caught a couple quick glimpses of the sun today. But mostly it was cloudy with light snow all day. Sun came out around 5 PM and west faces caught some direct sun for a short while.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
12"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
12+ inches in the alpine. Cold smoke. Light and fluffy. Classic Utah powder, the greatest snow on Earth. Snow totals were dependent on elevation. Measured 9.5 inches at the top of Laurel Meadow. 12 inches at the bottom of Gold Miner's. And the skiing in TMC felt deeper than 12!
Red Flags
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall
Red Flags Comments
Recent heavy snowfall with 12+ inches. The snow was really light density and did not form a slab. I expected some loose snow sluffing in steeper terrain and we did not experience any.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
At the tail off this storm winds shifted and started to blow from the North. The north winds early this morning were strong enough to blow and drift the new snow. We encountered some fresh drifts in the upper part of South facing Gold Miner's. The combination of new and drifted snow here was two feet deep. Loading was high on the slope, and the North winds didn't blow long enough to really load the slope proper. Loading occurred early in the morning before we arrived. We spent most of the day at or above tree line and did not witness any active loading.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
Another round of snow to load PWL's in North and East facing terrain. Since 3/18 we have had several storms adding up to about 35 inches. I haven't traveled on North or East for a while, but I feel like with all of the recent loading events, these slopes are hanging in the balance. I think any slope with a buried PWL is at it's tipping point right now, and the weight of a skier could be enough to produce a large and deep avalanche.
Photo 1: Cornices on the Pre Laurel ridge continue to grow.
Photo 2: Some old sluffs from Tuesday's storm now buried by last night's storm.
Photo 3: A quick pit a the top of our ski run, West facing in Talking Mountain Cirque. Storm snow was on top of a thin 1F+ crust. Below that, Crust/facet sandwiches to the ground in a shallow wind scoured zone around 11,900. Lower down the slope where the pack was deeper we found storm snow on top of the thin 1F+ crust, some decomposing/fragmented particles and facets below the crust, then a thicker 4F+ crust, and then more crust/facet sandwiches. We felt good skiing exposed steep terrain on top of this structure, and we didn't encounter any signs of instability.
Photo 4 and 5: Some nice views of the alpine when the sun poked through.
Photo 6: Kelly enjoying some deep march pow!
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate
Coordinates