In partnership with:
Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after
the date and time it’s issued, and will be updated
Good Morning! This is Craig
Gordon with the
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to
Current Conditions:
A fast moving cold front
raced through the region around
Avalanche Conditions:
Our seemingly
benign avalanche conditions of the past week or so are starting to change
because the key player, a slab, has been brought into the mix. Last night’s
strong winds not only wrecked a lot of good powder up high, they also changed
the avalanche danger by forming stiff wind drifts that riders will be able to
trigger today, especially in steep upper elevation terrain. There’s plenty of
weak snow out there for avalanches to fail on and a slide triggered within one
of today’s fresh wind drifts has the possibility of breaking into deeper buried
weak layers as it crashes down the slope.
Yesterday a close
call on
Today, take a
minute or two and carefully evaluate the snowpack by digging down with your
hands our shovel and see what the snow you’re riding on looks like. If you’ve
got strong snow, or a slab, on top of weak surgary
snow… you’ve got a problem. Also, be alert to hollow sounding snow or cracking
around your sled, board or skis. Finally, assess the slopes you’re planning to
ride and think about the consequences of triggering an avalanche.
Bottom Line:
In upper elevation terrain at and above tree line
the avalanche danger is MODERATE
today on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those with
recent deposits of wind drifted snow. A MODERATE avalanche danger means human
triggered avalanches are possible.
In wind sheltered terrain and at lower elevations the
avalanche danger is generally LOW today and human triggered avalanches are unlikely.
Mountain Weather:
High
pressure will build across the area today and shift east tomorrow afternoon,
allowing a change in the stagnant weather pattern. Today skies will clear, but
the northwesterly winds should remain brisk for the next few hours along the
ridges averaging in the 20’s, gusting into the low 40’s. High temperatures at
8,000’ will reach into the upper 20’s and at 10,000’ near 20 degrees. Overnight
lows under partly cloudy skies dive into the single digits. Christmas Day
should start out sunny, though increasing clouds stream in ahead of a
progressively stronger looking system slated to impact the region Tuesday
through about Thursday. I’ll have a better handle on the strength and size of
this developing storm for tomorrow’s advisory.
Announcements:
Come join us for a star studded fundraising ride on
Saturday Jan. 27th. Click here
for more details.
I want to thank the crew at Tri-City Performance in Springville
along with Polaris and the Utah Snowmobile Association for partnering with the
avalanche center and stepping up to the plate by providing a new sled for this
season! Click
here, to
see the new
ride!
Free avalanche awareness classes are available. Give
me a call at 801-231-2170 or email [email protected]
and get one scheduled before the season gets too crazy!
If any terms confuse you, take a look at our new avalanche encyclopedia.
For avalanche photos click here.
General
Information:
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’ll update this
advisory by
This advisory is
also available by calling 1-800-648-7433 or
1-888-999-4019.
.