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Observation: Millcreek

Observation Date
3/13/2015
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas » Millcreek
Location Name or Route
Mill Creek
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Direction
East
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
A good solid refreeze with hard frozen tracks this morning and light east winds keeping the upper elevation snow conditions dry and quite nice riding and turning.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
2"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
Just a minor dusting of new snow at the trailhead and around 2-3" in the upper Mill Creek drainage made for some nice conditions.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Collapsing
Rapid Warming
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Just one minor collapse on a small steep rollover where the bump in winds from yesterday's small storm created isolated wind slabs, but these have for the most part settled-out. As is often the case on the east side, the snow pack is thinner and you can still find weak faceted snow near the bottom of the snow pack, but I could not find much of a slab in the area. I felt the hazard was generally quite low, but could be the isolated chance of finding a weak thin spot where a person could still trigger a slide.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wet Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Today's east winds kept the lid on any heat activity at the upper elevations, but this weekends forecasted near record high temperatures could put the snow pack through its first big warm-up.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
A few isolated places where a deeper avalanche might be triggered in thinner snow pack areas like Mill Creek.
Comments
Pretty quiet in the Mill Creek area, where some of the bigger slopes were ridden several days ago.
I spent a few hours above treeline today enjoying the great views of the high country.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate