Can we talk? Snow dynamics

[Stoysluttie1]

I try and pay attention to the weather and avy forecasting as much as possible....even getting into the mix of things up here in LoCache.

Looking at various weather stations in various areas throughout our range, the Bear Rivers, and the Wasatch, I noticed the winds have kicked up a notch..or two or three or 91!

From my understanding, optimal wind speed for snow movement is between 25-50mph...give or take. Winds have been somewhat conssistent in the Wasatch...with gusts into the 70, 80 and 90 mph range!

Up here, the highest guts recorded has been 35 thus far.

Snow totals are between 7 and 20". And we have a slight density inversion going on...lighter snow fell before the temps warmed and the heavier stuff came.

With snow being transported, generally from the S, SW, and W, slopes onto the N, NE, and E aspects, and then having super high winds to smother the freshly deposited snow, what do you think this means? And does anybody else pay attention to this kind of stuff?

I used to do this a lot when skiing basin all the time to let me know if Berryland, Middle Bowl, or No Name was the shot to hit for the day. It worked out for most of the times.

[slippy]

It means hard-pack windblown; we get a lot of that in the Bridgers. Maybe with some good chalk (1-6 inches) on top, depending on the terrain, but it often results in very variable skiing.

[Foggy_Goggles]

I'm no snow science expert, but my experience with winds that serious is that the fetch zones with have a hard slab, the exposed will be scoured (sp?) and the lower aspects (deposit zones) will be the goods. But I'm not sure of the question, you don't need me to tell you that the place to be is in the lee trees.

[AltaPowderDaze]

with winds like that, i'd expect the possibility of the lower rolloevers on the lee slopes to be sketch. if the winds were sustained that high (70's-90's), then i'd say that you won't have too much of a problem. i'd still watch the density inversion if the winds weren't in effect when the lighter snow fell. low angles and thick trees might be the place to be.

btw, the winds have been out of the north in lcc since atleast 3pm.