Join us at our 2nd Annual Blizzard Ball
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: Neffs

Observation Date
1/16/2025
Observer Name
Manship and Collett
Region
Salt Lake » Neffs
Location Name or Route
Neffs Canyon
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
In our travels we found swirling winds, but around 7,600' we started to feel the moderate winds and see snow transport. It was a warm wind.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
In the sheltered areas it was loud pow with weak surface snow. Crusts from yesterday where not terrible but S and SW was taking on some heat. Up higher there was wind affect on the west aspects we touched.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
Moderate wind speeds where moving snow in the low elevations we travelled in, we could see winds pluming snow off the higher ridge lines.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
Not new snow, but loose snow avalanches. On the solars we say evidence of wet loose avalanches from yesterday. On steep rolls we where able to induce facetalanches. The snow surface has weakend significantly in sheltered areas.
I did not include PWL because in our travels and digging it did not seem to be an issue at low elevations.
Snow Profile
Aspect
Northwest
Elevation
7,600'
Slope Angle
16°
At low elevation there is a stout rain crust midpack (~50cm up from the ground) from around Christmas . It varies but we noted it to be about 10cm thick. Underneath this there is a jumble of old melt freeze crusts and rounding facets. Above that is a settling slab that is right side up.
The thing that suprised me most was winds getting in to lower elevations and transporting snow. It didn't take much slab on the weak surface snow to get small cracks at our feet.
Overall it is still scrappy at lower elevations, but it beats not skiing!
Photo 1: Surface hoar at around 6,800'
Photo 2: Snow pluming off relatively high ridges
Photo 3: Wind filling in recentr tracks
Today's Observed Danger Rating
None
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None
Coordinates
Snow Pilot URL
https://snowpilot.org/node/70104