In
partnership with: The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Department of
Public Safety Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management,
To have this advisory automatically e-mailed to you each day free of charge, visit: http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=16351h
For photos of avalanches and
avalanche phenomenon, visit: http://www.avalanche.org/%7Euac/photos_03-04.htm (Updated
2/27)
Photos sent in by observers
throughout the season visit: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/obphotos/observer.html (Updated
2/24)
For a list of backcountry avalanche activity, visit: http://www.avalanche.org/%7Euac/Avalanche_List.htm (Updated 2/27)
Avalanche advisory
Sunday, February 29, 2004, 7:30 am
Good
morning, this is Drew Hardesty with the
Current Conditions:
And the snow keeps on
falling. Overnight, the Cottonwoods
picked up another 8-12” of 5% champagne. Areas along the perimeter picked up another
3-5” and it’s still snowing. 24 hour
totals in
Avalanche Conditions:
With perhaps another foot of snow expected in
favored locations today, I’ve issued another Special Avalanche Statement. As I write this, both Cottonwood Canyons are
closed for control work above the highways.
While most of the natural avalanches have subsided, backcountry travelers
are finding slopes that did not slide during the previous cycle on Thursday
that are just hanging in the balance. Backcountry skiers triggered sizeable
avalanches from
Unless you have a good idea which paths slid during the past few days, you’ll want to keep your slope angles down below 35 degrees today. As more snow continues to pile up, particularly in the Cottonwoods, slopes may become even more sensitive to the weight of a person. Be alert for changing conditions and expose only one person on the slope at a time.
Bottom
Line for the Wasatch Range, including the
The avalanche danger is a scary CONSIDERABLE on mid and upper elevation slopes steeper than 35 degrees. Natural shallow soft slabs may be possible with the new snow today, but the take-home point is that any avalanche triggered will have significant consequences. You can find plenty of areas with LOW avalanche danger today on slopes less steep than 30 degrees, which don’t have steeper slopes hanging above them.
Mountain Weather:
Moist northwest flow as upper Low pulls away should produce heavy snow in the Cottonwoods with up to a foot expected by evening. Perimeter areas may see as much as 6”. Winds will be west northwest in the 15mph range, slightly higher along the highest ridgelines. Temps will be 20 and 15 degrees at 8000’ and 10,000’. We’ll dry out slightly late tonight/tomorrow ahead of another storm slated for Monday afternoon/evening.
For specific digital forecasts for the
General Information:
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides will probably not be flying today because of weather but they may be doing avalanche control for the highways and ski resorts.
If you are getting into the backcountry, please give us a call and let us know what you’re seeing, especially if you trigger an avalanche. You can leave a message at 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140. Or you can e-mail an observation to uac@avalanche .org, or you can fax an observation to 801-524-6301.
The information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.
I will update this advisory Monday morning.
Thanks for calling.
_____________________________________________________________________________