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Observation Date
1/7/2017
Observer Name
Brackelsberg
Region
Salt Lake » Parleys Canyon » Mt Aire
Location Name or Route
Mt Aire / Lambs Canyon
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Cold morning with gradually warming temperatures during the day. The wind did not pick up while we were out.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

Based on the cold temperatures the last 2 days, I was surprised by the lack of surface hoar.

We found a wide variety of snowpacks on the aspects we evaluated (see pit profiles).

As the wind picked up later in the day I would expect a significant amount of wind loading which could form a wind slab on top of this very weak snow pack.

It appeared as though the ground facets were starting to round. I was not able to discern if the facets above and below the December rain crust were starting to round or not.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Mt Aire is traditionally a shallow and weak snowpack. After a quick observation 29 Dec and Drew's observation on 02 Jan I was curious to see if anything had changed prior to the approaching storm. I was not at all disappointed by the very poor snowpack structure.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments

Thick facet layers were observed both above and below the December rain crust. While there was not a hard slab above these, 1-2" SWE with a new rain crust forming could quickly change this.

Comments

The goal of the day was to observe several aspects and elevations to see what the snowpack was like ahead of the approaching wet storm. While all quick pits had a poor snowpack structure, they were unreactive to compression tests. The exception to this was pit 3 where I had a CTE-3 which broke at the ground. 2 more tests did not produce any results and I feel that my first test broke due to a shrub on the ground and therefore was not a relevant test.

Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable