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Forecast for the Provo Area Mountains

Brett Kobernik
Issued by Brett Kobernik on
Thursday morning, December 27, 2012

There is a CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger today. Experience along with careful route finding procedures and following safe backcountry protocol is a must today. If you don't fully understand what that statement includes then you should avoid being on or below any slopes over around 30 degrees in steepness.

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Special Announcements

Little Cottonwood Canyon is closed for avalanche control work. Estimated re-opening is 8:30am. We will update through Twitter later this morning with any significant avalanche control results.

Weather and Snow

The current storm is verifying quite nicely in my opinion with around a foot of new snow or better in the Cottonwoods containing around ¾” of water with the mid portions of the canyons doing very well. The Provo area mountains got clobbered with 2 feet of snow and the Ogden area is doing quite well with 20” or so up there. Temperatures are in the teens and winds are fairly light from a westerly direction with some moderate speed gusts along the higher terrain.

Recent Avalanches

Natural avalanche activity is occurring in the Provo area mountains. There is no doubt that the new 2 feet of snow is sensitive and we suspect that we'll see evidence of larger avalanches that have broke into older snow in the upper elevation northerly facing slopes.

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Avalanche Problem #1
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

We're going to keep it simple today people. The new snow is not manageable for backcountry travelers in the Provo area avalanche terrain which includes all slopes of 30 degrees or steeper. It is best to let it settle today and see how it's behaving once the storm passes. If you are venturing out, stay off of and out from under any steep avalanche paths.

Avalanche Problem #2
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

The wise backcountry traveler will have patience with the thinner snowpack areas today and let the dust settle before venturing into steep slopes with old weaker snow. I would be surprised if some of the older layers haven't already failed and produced natural avalanches. It is no time to toy with any steep northerly facing slopes in the Provo area mountains.

Additional Information

We should see periods of snow today which should taper off somewhat mid day. We should see a few more inches of snow in the Provo region. Temperatures should remain in the teens and winds should remain fairly light switching more northerly as the day progresses. There is one last wave that may produce a few more snow showers just before this system completely exits our area by Friday.

General Announcements

Go to http://www.backcountry.com/utah-avalanche-center to get tickets from our partners at Ala, Beaver Mountain, Brighton, Canyons, Deer Valley, Park City, Powder Mountain, Snowbasin, Snowbird, Solitude, Sundance, and Wolf Mountain. All proceeds benefit the Utah Avalanche Center.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks.

Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort Dispatch (435-615-3322)

Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017)

Powder Mountain Ski Patrol Dispatch (801-745-3773 ex 123)

Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150)

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE.

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

Wasatch Powderbird Guides does daily updates about where they'll be operating on this blog http://powderbird.blogspot.com/ .

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory bysubmitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email by clicking HERE

Donate to your favorite non-profit –The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

For a print version of this advisory click HERE.

This advisory is produced by the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. It describes only general avalanche conditions and local variations always exist. Specific terrain and route finding decisions should always be based on skills learned in a field-based avalanche class.

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