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Observation: 10420

Observation Date
12/25/2023
Observer Name
Champion/Talty
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » 10420
Location Name or Route
Guardsman Pass - 10420
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Cold, clear day in the mountains. Winds were generally light, with the occasional moderate gust along ridgelines. No obvious signs of transport during our travels.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
3"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
The snow surfaces varied today. Soft, low-density snow was in protected areas from 3-5” deep, sitting atop supportable crusts and layers. On the solar aspect, the snow was a bit denser and even had a thin crust in some areas with snow. Looking across toward USA Bowl and other south-facing aspects - the coverage is generally light. Along ridgelines and in the windzone, a thin windskin had begun to form and texture on the surface.

Across the board, the new snow surface has weakened over the last two cold, clear days, with surface hoar forming on almost all aspects.
Comments
Meanwhile, the weak snowpack structure still exists, with the facets sitting on the ground. Today’s primary concern is soft slabs of wind-drifted snow along upper-elevation ridgelines. Today, while traveling, there were obvious signs of texture and driving above 9000’. Despite the signs of wind drifting, we saw very few signs of instability today. We were unable to get any cracking or collapsing in steeper terrain. The upper few inches remain low density and will continue to be easy for transport at the upper elevations if winds remain elevated over the next 24 hours. Outside of the windzone, the new snow was easy to push around. It was not cohesive, but low density and could be fast moving in cofinded terrain.

The new snow surface has also begun to weaken; with the upcoming weather, I would guess we will continue to see the fresh surface snow continue to facet and weaken over the next 7-10 days, which could pose a problem once we see a large load ontop of that.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None
Coordinates