Observation: Uintas

Poor visibility between 0900 and 1300. Winds generally stout southwesterly decreasing toward afternoon. We saw some cornices and noticed chalky-looking snow in the lee and it sounded hollow to walk across in the rolling meadow around Silver Meadow area. Stability tests on 15 degree NNW aspect indicated a stabilizing snow pack. Through tonight and tomorrow, however, new snow load could affect the deep faceted layer. The buried surface hoar we found in our test pit could be a problem with increased new snow. However, further tests are needed to establish how widespread this buried surface hoar is. Our test pit was in a very wind-sheltered, densely-treed area that may not be representative.