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Observation: 10420

Observation Date
4/13/2020
Observer Name
Champion
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » 10420
Location Name or Route
10420
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Another cooler day with broken skies, and poor visibility. Light snowfall throughout the day, moderate gusts on ridgelines.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
2"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
Snow conditions were pretty bleak in upper big cottonwood canyon. Anywhere between 1-4" of new snow sitting on top of a firm supportable surface. In certain areas, the wind had completely drifted the snow away to the firm supportable crust, and in certain areas there we small wind drifts up to 10"-14" deep. The temperatures stayed cool enough to keep the snow surfaces cold. In steep terrain, the few inches of snow would easily sluff on the firm surface.
The best skiing of the day was in the low angle trees.
Comments
The main take away from today was that the winds were drifting the few new inches of snow around. Outside of seeing visible signs of wind drifting, I didn't see any signs of instability related to the wind drifted snow. No signs on cracking and whomfing and wind drifts were generally shallow.
Everywhere else, in areas that the wind hadn't drifted the snow away, the few inches of new snow did seem to be bonding well to the firm surfaces below.
New snow depth
Snow surface and sky coverage
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low
Coordinates