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Observation: Silver Fork

Observation Date
5/7/2024
Observer Name
T Diegel, P Diegel, Patterson
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Silver Fork
Location Name or Route
Silver Fork
Red Flags
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall
Wind Loading
Comments
Yowza, what a storm! pretty much 48 hours of storming, with plenty of snow >2 feet?), wind, and temp variations (the latter in the right direction of rightside up). Yesterday I was in upper Silver Fork and it absolutely puked all morning, and with decent winds - mostly from the NW I was able to ski cut out a pretty decent 1.5 foot soft slab that raced down Hideaway Park,and it appeared that the frequent flier of the upper headwall of W bowl went too - naturally? Today we were in the Meadow Chutes area and got a coupla impressive whoomphs, but no cracking and no movement (pretty low angle) in that pretty wind-sheltered area. Seems like the old wet/spongy snow from the weekend had an okay bond to the new snow....to a point, which to me seemed to be a bit on the steeper side (the slab I cut was probably 40 degrees at the top). Not sure where the whoomphs were coming from; maybe mid-storm variations between graupel and regular flakes? Should settle out tonight - and maybe make for slightly less-arduous trail breaking. Seems like we are going to get a gradual warming trend, but even so once the sun starts blasting things could get interesting? As Bruce likes to say, snowpacks don't like rapid change....
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate