The snowpack is mostly stable, and the avalanche danger is Low today. Use normal caution and travel one at a time on steep slopes, avoiding any drifts of wind blown snow. Our Web and Video Tutorial page is back in action – check it out.
Weather and SnowThe high pressure stranglehold continues, and temperatures in the mountains range from near 30 into the low 40s this morning, with a few 20s in the valley bottoms and on the high elevation peaks. Winds are from the southwest, generally less the 15 mph.
The warm temperatures are slowly melting the snow at low and mid elevations and on all sunny slopes, where the chance of hitting rocks and stumps is increasing. Smooth, upper elevation shady slopes would have reasonably supportable, riding, turning and snow shoeing conditions, but the snow can't be reached with out a long hike in the Provo area mountains.
Recent AvalanchesOther than one small wind slab pried out with explosives on a northerly facing slope above 10,000 feet in the Cottonwoods, no new avalanche activity was reported.
The snow world’s Pandora’s Box is filled with bad weather scenarios, and one of them has escaped and found us – weeks of high pressure is both weakening our snowpack and melting it away. The weak layer of surface hoar and near surface faceted snow is becoming deeper and more widespread on shady, northerly terrain. Currently, small sluffs can be triggered in the loose surface snow, and in isolated places a new or old wind drift, sitting on this weak snow, could be triggered along the ridgelines.
It will be another beautiful spring like day, with high temperatures in the mid 30’s to mid 40s. The southwesterly winds will remain light, with generally less than 15 mph averages, with only occasional gusts into the 40s across the highest peaks. A stronger, yet still mild and mostly dry, southwesterly flow will develop late Wednesday and carry us into Saturday. But there is Hope in the corner of Pandora’s Box – a possible pattern change around Sunday could finally bring some moisture to northern Utah next week.
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)
Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017)
Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150)
Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8.
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Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.
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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 by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email by clicking HERE
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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.
Drew will update this forecast tomorrow. Thanks for calling.
