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Observation: Silver Fork

Observation Date
12/31/2020
Observer Name
Greg Gagne / Erme Catino
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Silver Fork
Location Name or Route
Silver Fork from BCC
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Very-light occasional snow showers. Winds were almost non-existent.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
1"
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Snow Characteristics Comments
HS in Silver Fork ranges from 45-90 cms. Fortunately the current snowpack has supportable structure making travel possible as well as well as good ski conditions on lower-angled slopes.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
Mostly concerned about the PWL problem in areas that have a stronger slab on top, especially on upper elevation aspects facing north through east that were loaded from a few stong wind events this past week.
Comments
It's getting harder to trigger a PWL avalanche, and it is more probable in an area that has a stronger slab on top of the weak facets. Over the past several days most of my pits have been ECTN - no propagation and just crumbled on the weak snow. But today we got a ECTP10 (video below) where there was a strong 1F slab on top of the facets. This strong slab is likely the result on strong SE winds this past week.
Video
Discussion of assigning a danger rating to the current PWL problem.
Video
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate