Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Most of the red flags are present right now. The storm cycle has laid down a significant load in terms of water weight being well over the previous load that helped lead to the avalanches from 12/15-12/17. Additional weight is being added with the strong and relentless winds associated with this storm. Today cracking and collapsing was the name of the game when you got off the skin track or were breaking trail, especially in areas where wind has increased the load on a slope that contains the PWL. PWL is still present and reactive in snow pit tests. </p>
Photo below highlights a shooting crack when stepping a foot off of the skin track to 10420 from the Guardsmans lot. The slope visibly settled, this is a NE aspect at about 9300'. Other whumphs and collapses were noted in similar terrain.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>This is still the primary concern throughout the range. There is now a cohesive slab on top of the PWL and it is producing many very large avalanches. Right now, bulls eye data is cracking, collapsing, and other avalanches occuring on this layer. </p> <p>With strong winds throughout the storm so far we have seen reactive fresh wind slabs. These will subside relatively soon after the wind dies down but many old wind slabs will still sit above the PWL leaving it to react like a hard slab. This could lead to a false sense of security in areas that get skied without incident in the coming days. </p>
The new snow in exposed lee areas was medium in density due to the warm temps of the storm and the amount of snow that has been transported with the strong winds. The surface was very supportable even off of the skin track. In protected areas the new snow still felt a bit heavy by Wasatch standards with ski pen on the downhill not going above the boot top in low angle terrain.