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Observation: Cutler Ridge

Observation Date
2/25/2023
Observer Name
Derek DeBruin
Region
Ogden » Ben Lomond » Cutler Ridge
Location Name or Route
Ben Lomond, Cutler Ridge
Weather
Weather Comments
Competing sun and clouds this morning, a brief bit of sun roughly 10am to noon, then clouds moving back in and becoming overcast as the day progress. Warm temps--above freezing. Wind out of the south above 7200ft or so. No precip.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Characteristics Comments
Wind effects into the lower elevations, with wind skin and ripples into some of the sheltered zones. The Bull Nose/Birthday Bowls was clearly strong wind affected during the storm. Snow transport was occurring in a few spots throughout our tour, though we mostly stayed in protected locales, so hard to generalize.
Solar warming of the surface on the sunny aspects, and thermal warming due to temps across the board below 7400ft (perhaps higher, but we didn't go above this). Consequently, the powder was largely settled, heavy, and/or damp.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Red Flags Comments
A smattering of wet point releases came off the rocks on Island Peak, but wet loose activity was limited as the period of sunshine was also limited. Dug on NW aspect around 7300ft and found the old surface facets about 1m down. However, this was unreactive. Instead we got CT results at various storm interfaces. No propagation on ECT. This supported what we saw elsewhere and a report from another party--largely unreactive surface snow, that was stubborn to release on test slopes.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
None
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None