Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 03/05/2018
Name: Eleven Cat Operation
Subject: Eleven Cat Operation
Aspect:
Elevation:
Avalanches:
Weather: Night and day between morning and afternoon. Clear in the Am transitioning to obscured by 1400. Calm winds shifting to 30s G70s later in the day. Colder Temps throughout the day. HN24 1.5″ at 16:00.
Snowpack: Light density snow this afternoon isn’t bonding well.
Photos:
Date: 03/05/2018
Yesterday morning, it sure was hard to believe we had a storm coming, but the low end of Ian’s forecast held up. With strong winds and 2-6” of new snow across the forecast area this morning. You best get out there and make the most of it because we are moving into a high and dry week. Winds will ease a bit today, while temperatures will stay cold with mostly cloudy sky. High pressure will start pushing into the area on Tuesday as the sky clears and temperatures begin to rebound.
High Temperature: 15
Winds/Direction: 10 to 20 G35, West Northwest
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0 to 2
Elkton Snow: 0 to 1
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0 t 1
Low Temperature: 0
Winds/Direction: 10 to 20, West Northwest
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
High Temperature: 25
Winds/Direction: 5 to 15, Northwest
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Date: 03/04/2018
It will be hard to believe looking out your window this morning that snow will fall midday. A sharp cold front slowed yesterday over Utah, and today will ride a strong jet stream aloft into Colorado. Model runs of this storm over the last few days have begun to shy off precipitation as the Wasatch wrings this stalled system dry. The exact timing of this cold front is somewhat uncertain, but will be obvious when it passes midday to early afternoon. Strong winds and intense snowfall will signal the front (maybe even some thundersnow?), and cold air will rush in behind the front. Daytime highs may be reached this morning, before the cold front, with temperatures set to drop to the single digits tonight. Cold, northwest flow will linger through the night and minor orographics for Kebler and Schofield Passes cannot be ruled out. Looking ahead, we have a dry and warm week on tap, with potentially another weak storm toward next weekend.
High Temperature: 33
Winds/Direction: 20-30 G50/SW
Sky Cover: Increasing clouds
Irwin Snow: 3-6″
Elkton Snow: 3-6″
Friend’s Hut Snow: 2-4″
Low Temperature: 5
Winds/Direction: 15-25/WNW
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0-2″
Elkton Snow: 0-2″
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0-1″
High Temperature: 15
Winds/Direction: 10-20/WNW
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Date: 03/03/2018
Another very warm and windy day on tap ahead of drastic changes for tomorrow. A classic spring-like cold front is churning across the Great Basin today and looks to arrive on our doorstep tomorrow around 10am. This cold front will bring strong winds, intense snowfall rates and maybe some of that dreaded desert dust. Snowfall will continue throughout much the day, and cold northwest orographics may over produce in the Kebler and Schofield Pass areas. Total accumulations look to be 6-8” with higher amounts possible.
High Temperature: 38
Winds/Direction: 15-25/SW
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Low Temperature: 15
Winds/Direction: 10-20/SSW
Sky Cover: Increasing clouds
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
High Temperature: 25
Winds/Direction: 10-20G50/WNW
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 6-8″
Elkton Snow: 6-8″
Friend’s Hut Snow: 3-6″
Location: Cement Creek Area
Date of Observation: 03/01/2018
Name: Caleb Weinberg
Subject: Remote Trigger Cement Creek
Aspect: South East
Elevation: NTL
Avalanches:
“Slide was on a SE aspect. We triggered it from the flat deck that the first photo showing only bottom of the slide is taken from. About 300 yards from the crown which was 4’ish. I’d say r2 d2. It ran the first half of its path but couldn’t get over the flat to get to the second half. Three sleds had ridding to the trigger spot and when the fourth got there we felt a giant whumph. Really good example for us on how just because one person (or3) doesn’t trigger doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”
Weather: CLear, warm
Snowpack:
Photos:
Date: 03/02/2018
In like a lamb is what they say, and aside from increasing southwesterly winds, it will feel spring-like across the Elk Mountains with temperatures up to 10 degrees above normal. An organized low pressure system continues to sit over the west coast for another day, before ejecting out over the Great Basin and giving us our next snowfall Sunday. This storm and its associated cold front will roll through Sunday morning, potentially dropping 5-10” snow across higher terrain, with snow in the valleys as well.
High Temperature: 38
Winds/Direction: 10-20/SW
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Low Temperature: 21
Winds/Direction: 10-20/SW
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
High Temperature: 38
Winds/Direction: 15-25/SW
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 03/01/2018
Name: Alex Banas
Subject: E-SE ATL obs
Aspect: East, South East
Elevation: NTL
Avalanches:
None. No CR, CO, AV observed.
Weather: Clear in the AM transitioning to scattered by 1300. Warm temps, moderate solar, Calm winds.
Snowpack: HS : 117cm. Persistent slab structure is present but not reactive in snowpack tests. The E-SE at treeline snowpack on the Gothic shoulder is harboring only a few melt-freeze crusts and a strong midpack. True east surface conditions stayed dry throughout the day with anything with more of a southerly tilt becoming moist by 1200.
Photos:
Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 03/01/2018
Name: Ben Pritchett
Subject: 1@1
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 12,000′
Avalanches:
Stop Please! And the natural avalanche cycle creeps onwards. Yet another one today, failed this morning off Axtell, Green Lake Bowl. SS-N-R1/D2-O, to the ground.
Failed below a cornice, above and below a cliff, to the ground on depth hoar. Ran before 11am March 1st on a sunny north of east aspect. Close up doesn’t show any large pieces of cornice broken off, winds were the lightest they have been in days.
Photos:
Natural D2 off Mt. Axtell, 3/1
Date: 03/01/2018
The western US sits under a broad ridge of high pressure at the moment. A large trough is stalled on the Oregon Coast, spinning light moisture, observable as high thin clouds, towards us today. Then tomorrow that moisture tap dries up we’ll see our first truly spring-like day of March.
That trough will remain parked on the coast through Saturday, pounding the Sierra with snow, before ejecting eastward across the continent to bring us a quick shot of snow on Sunday followed by cooler dry air early next week.
High Temperature: 28
Winds/Direction: 10 to 20, Southwest
Sky Cover: Increasing clouds
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Low Temperature: 10
Winds/Direction: 10 to 20, Southwest
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
High Temperature: 35
Winds/Direction: 15 to 25, South-Southwest
Sky Cover: Clear
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Date: 02/28/2018
A moisture-starved closed low-pressure system is tracking through southern Arizona right now. Given the placement of this spinning top of a system and the lack of moisture, any hopes for significant snows today can now be erased. We’ll see clouds all day, a chance for a few snowflakes in the AM, and a steady shot of westerly wind after lunch. That’s it for this “storm.”
Tomorrow temperatures rebound to near freezing and we’ll get covered by a band of high clouds reaching out in front of a large Alaskan low dropping down into the western US. We expect this system to bring some snow to Crested Butte on Sunday.
High Temperature: 20
Winds/Direction: 5 to 15, gusting to 25 out of the West in the PM
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0 to t”
Elkton Snow: 0 to 1″
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0 to 1″
Low Temperature: 5
Winds/Direction: 5 to 15 West Northwest
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
High Temperature: 32
Winds/Direction: 5 to 15, Southwest
Sky Cover: Increasing clouds
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
