Utah Avalanche Center

Tried to find a slope with similar aspect/elevation to the one that injured and buried 2 snowboarders. This slope was maybe 3 miles to the SE of that slope. Couldn't find any layers that alarmed me but I could see that they could be worse in isolated areas.

Buried surface hoar at 60 cm looks like it was knocked over before it was buried and this matches what I've seen in many other pits.

Relatively low elevation for this area. Main concern is what gets buried when the next snow comes. Slopes getting some sun have a crust with facets above and below and surface hoar on top. Direct south is getting baked, but E aspects may remain a problem. Also, little rain fell at this elevation and the last week of precip was mostly snow.

Very little change in snow depth since a week ago. A lot of precip fell as rain.

Thick ice layer at 80-89 cm is from mid December rain (Dec 16?). This avalanche broke just below this ice layer. The storm total was about 10 inches of SWE that caused this avalanche and the widespread avalanche cycle in the Wellsville Range. Below 60 cm it was brushy.

Wind and High PI rates persisting throughout the afternoon.