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Observation: Whitney Basin

Observation Date
3/31/2021
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas » Whitney Basin
Location Name or Route
Whitney Basin-West Fork Bear
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Clear skies, generally calm winds and not too cold, not too warm.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
Hard frozen snow surfaces this morning that did soften in some places, but lots of hard frozen tracks. There is a very narrow wedge of terrain that has soft snow, but it is getting a little hard to come by.
Red Flags
Red Flags Comments
No red flags observed today and it felt like a transition time before the heat comes on later this week.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Normal Caution
Problem #1 Comments
Kind of a transition day with the heat not here yet and the hard freeze from Monday/Tuesday is behind us.
Comments
The mountains are white, but the low elevation trail head is brown and will likely get worse after this big warm up.
About the only activity we observed was this old tired shallow wind slab.
My partner and I did make note of the dust that is pretty evident on the snow surface. This would have been from the strong winds from late last week and not sure how this might factor into some quicker melting of the snow?? Sorry, not a great photo.
The high elevation north facing slopes still have some soft snow, but it is getting harder to find.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low
Coordinates