Quick report
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading
Afternoon outing to Cardiff Fork from Alta. Front came through about 2 pm with a period of increasing winds and heavy snowfall rates that easily filled in skin tracks. Was especially curious how any snow on top of the weekend rain crust would now be bonded. On Sunday the bond was very poor, and there were several small avalanches running on the crust, notably on lower-angled slopes (~20-25 degrees). The warm temps the past few days - where many mountain stations remained above freezing for nearly 48 hours - have helped the graupel layer from Sunday bond to the slick ice crust.
Most stability tests today were getting avalanching within the storm snow and above the crust. However, on a SE aspect at ~9700' a small slide ran on the crust. On another SE aspect at 10,000' a ski cut triggered a pocket of storm snow that initially ran within the storm snow, but stepped down to the crust.
Photo and video of wind along ridgelines.
Instabilities within the dense storm snow will rapidly settle out, but forecasted winds overnight will continue to drift snow. Overall Moderate hazard with possible areas of Considerable at the upper elevations that have been wind loaded.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Winds transporting snow along upper elevation ridgelines creating pockets of sensitive wind drifts up to 20 cms (8") thick. With continued snow and increasing winds overnight, expecting this hazard to increase into Friday morning.</p> <p>Was able to easily trigger a few class 1.5 slides on steeper aspects. These were mostly running within the storm snow, but at least one on a SE aspect ran on the frozen surface from this weekend's rain event. </p>
15-25 cms (6-10") of dense snow with some graupel mixed in. 8-10% density.