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Avalanche advisory
Friday, March 18, 2005
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with the
This Saturday, March 19, the 3rd Annual Black Diamond PowderKeg Race
will make the Grizzly Gulch/Twin Lakes Pass areas busy with racers in the first
half of the morning. Come out and watch
the extremely fast World Cup racers.
Current Conditions:
I had given up hope as I went to bed last night on the storm but a squall moved
through producing another 5 inches at Alta overnight. Storm totals are around 6 to 9 inches in the
upper ends of the Cottonwoods with snow totals tapering off drastically as you
loose elevation. Other 24 hour snow totals
are about 6 inches along the
The
winds continue to blow in the “almost annoying” range along the ridges this
morning. Many ridgetop stations are in
the 15 to 20 mph range with gusts in the upper 20s. At 11,000 feet winds are blowing in the 30 to
40 mph range with some gusts over 50.
Temperatures are cooler now then they were yesterday at this time in the
mid teens along the ridges.
Avalanche Conditions:
I received a few reports of the new snow sluffing quite easily on Thursday
which would indicate the snow may not have bonded all that well to the old
surface. I found a number of fresh wind
drifts and wind slabs that were semi-sensitive to slope cuts and stomping cornices. (Wind
slabs: PHOTOS and INFO) The deeper
drifts along the ridges were up to 2 feet deep.
Some of these chunks that broke did propagate out some small slabs once
they hit the steeper slopes below. The
largest wind slab that I got to move from a slope cut was around 50 feet wide
and 4 to 8 inches deep.
I
saw no natural avalanche activity on Thursday and the activity from slope
testing was only along the upper ridges.
The
small amounts of snow that fell previous to Wednesday are acting as a weak
layer on the more northerly facing aspects at the higher elevations. With additional snow and wind from overnight expect
fresh wind slabs to be more sensitive and propagate wider on these slopes today. Slope cuts should be an effective tool on
these drifts. You shouldn’t have to get
too far down of the ridges to avoid the danger today.
The
new snow will be quite sensitive to any heating that occurs during the day
today. Heating can occur very easily at
this time of year even if the sun doesn’t come out.
Bottom Line (
There
is a MODERATE danger
on slopes steeper then 35 degrees that have fresh deposits of wind drifted snow. These slopes most likely will be sensitive to
the weight of a person. If you trigger
one of these slabs, the consequences of getting buried are not real great but I’d
be concerned about going for a nasty ride on a firm crust and getting pushed
into rocks or trees. Once the new snow
heats up today, any wet avalanches have the potential to entrain a lot of snow
and would pack more of a punch once they get moving.
Bottom Line (
Without much new snow the avalanche danger is generally LOW although you may find some very small
sensitive wind slabs along the ridges.
http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/ed-scale.htm
Mountain Weather: (You can find the afternoon Weather Update here.)
This morning we’ll see cloudy skies, cool temperatures and moderate winds. Things will heat up somewhat during the day
with temperatures at 8000 feet getting into the mid 30s but should stay below
freezing at the higher elevations. Winds
will decrease as the day moves on and will be from the west.
The
storm for Saturday night into Sunday is looking promising with a moist
southwest flow and unstable air which could produce a decent shot of snow.
Yesterday,
Wasatch
Powderbird Guides did not fly. They will
be in Mineral,
If you have any snow or
avalanche observations, call and leave a message at 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140,
or e-mail us at [email protected]. Fax is 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 by
7:30 on Saturday morning.
Thanks for calling.