In partnership with: Utah Division of State
Parks and Recreation, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Department
of Emergency Services and Homeland Security and
“keeping
you on top”
AVALANCHE ADVISORY
Tuesday,
January 01, 2008 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with
the
Special Avalanche Advisory:
The Special Avalanche Advisory
continues for the
UDOT will close Big
and Little Cottonwood Canyon this morning at just after 7 am while they conduct
avalanche control work and they expect to reopen the roads between 8 and 8:30am.
Current Conditions:
The third
avalanche fatality occurred on Monday when three snowmobilers were caught in an
avalanche near Co-op creek in the
Temperatures
were chilly overnight dipping into the single digits or below zero at many
mountain locations. Wind speeds have
backed way off and are gusting from the northwest only into the 30s at the
highest locations. Mid and lower
elevations have very slow speeds. A
trace to a few inches of snow fell during the day on Monday with some drifting
noted along the upper ridges.
Avalanche Discussion:
Looking at
the
We will
want to watch out for recent wind drifts again today. It appears that most of them will stay in
place but it won’t hurt to avoid them if you can. One thing to note is that we are going to see
temperatures jump up around 20 degrees during the day today. This is considered a rapid warming
event. What does this mean for the
snowpack? Snow is a viscous
material. It is more viscous at warmer
temperatures just like motor oil. The
warmer temperatures today will accelerate the downhill creep of the
snowpack. This accelerated creep rate
will play a game of “tug a war” between snow layers and potentially weaken
bonds between the layers. This is more
pronounced with persistent weak layers such as faceted snow or surface hoar
however with the recent wind event I would watch the wind drifted areas as
well. This process will be going on
behind the scenes without much hint that it’s happening aside from southerly
facing slopes probably becoming damp on the surface.
There is
still an isolated chance that a person could trigger a slide that breaks into
older snow in the
Bottom Line for the
The danger
is MODERATE for triggering recent wind drifts and avalanches breaking into
older snow. You can find recent wind
drifts on many aspects but most pronounced at the upper elevations. Avalanches breaking into older snow are more
likely on northwest, north and northeast facing slopes above around 9000 feet
in elevation. They are more likely in
areas with a thinner snowpack as well.
Keep in mind that the
Mountain Weather:
Temperatures go from
below zero to near 30 degrees today.
Winds will be light from the northwest only gusting into the 20s and 30s
at the highest locations. We’ll see
mostly clear skies today in the mountains.
High pressure remains into Wednesday then a series of storms starts to
affect the area later in the week into the weekend.
Announcements:
UDOT will close Big and Little
Cottonwood Canyon this morning at just after 7 am while they conduct avalanche
control work and they expect to reopen the roads between 8 and 8:30am.
Today the Wasatch Powderbird Guides will fly in
For an avalanche education class list, updated 12/22/07, click HERE.
If you want to get this avalanche advisory e-mailed to you daily click HERE.
The UAC has temporary job openings for doing avalanche outreach in more rural
areas. Click HERE for info.
UDOT highway avalanche
control work info can be found HERE
or by calling (801)
975-4838.
Our
statewide tollfree line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, option 8).
For our classic text
advisory click HERE.
If you’re getting out and see anything we should know about please let us
know. You can leave a message at (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at [email protected]. (Fax 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.