Observation: Little Cottonwood Canyon

A short outing mostly to observe any sensitivities with the storm snow:

(1) I was finding a density inversion down 15-30 cms (6-12") that was reactive early in the morning, with easy hand shears and shovel tilt tests. I would assume this density inversion will quickly settle out and will likely be unreactive by Wednesday.

(2) On upper elevation, northerly slopes, the old snow surface is easily identified by a dust layer (likely from prefrontal winds March 2/3), with some faceting around this dust layer. I was getting poor quality (Q2) ECTN15 - ECTN20 failing on this dust layer. As this layer consists of some faceted snow, it will be slower to heal than the density inversion, and it may be a reactive layer with the late-week storm. (*This layer of facets does not look especially weak and I do not expect it to become a lingering PWL.)

(3) On slopes other than north-facing, the storm snow was well-bonded to the old snow surface.

(4) I got as high as 10,400' and could not find any wind-loaded slopes, but given the density inversion and somewhat weak snow at the old snow surface on northerly aspects, any wind-loaded slope was likely to be reactive.

Photo of snow pit showing the two different weak layers I identified today.

Dense snow with quite a bit of graupel throughout the storm slab. Settled snow ranged from 30-45 cms (12-18")