Ad
The National Forest Service Logo
icon-add Observation
Forecasts
Logan Ogden Salt Lake Provo Uintas Skyline Moab Abajos Weather Archives How to read the forecast
Observations & Avalanches
Submit Observation Observations Explorer All Observations Avalanches Fatalities Weather Place Names Map Archives
Education
Avalanche Class List UAC Class List Online Classes Resources and Tutorials Avalanche Awareness Develop Skills
Events
Store
About
Contact Who we are Core Values Staff Board of Directors Past Forecasters Sponsors Annual Reports Sign In
Blog
icon-add Observation
Donate / Join

Observation Date
11/16/2017
Observer Name
Nat Grainger
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » White Pine
Location Name or Route
White Pine
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Prefrontal winds moderate and gusty throughout midday.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Faceted Loose
Melt-Freeze Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
White Pine in general dry until passing under the Tri Chutes. Higher up NW through E faces holding isolated areas of snow from September and early November events, terrain dependent but anywhere from a few cm's to ~45cm. These layers have each developed a thermal crust on top and faceted the snow underneath creating 3 of these layer sets on North faces around 10,000'. The September snow in particular quite faceted and very weak.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Though coverage is patchy and limited to high NW through E faces, these early snows are very weak and capped with crusts. Though this basal layer may not propagate very widely, the areas holding old snow will have multiple weak layers to create isolated slides once there's a load on top. A lot of areas won't connect these weaknesses but I'll be wary of gullies, chutes, drainages, anything else that's held and protected more continuous sections.
Snow Profile
Aspect
North
Elevation
10,100'
Slope Angle
20°
Comments
Video from ~10,100 ft. on the apron of Red Baldy.
Video
A little redundant, view from lower in the WP basin.
Video
Today's Observed Danger Rating
None
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low