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Forecast for the Provo Area Mountains

Drew Hardesty
Issued by Drew Hardesty for
Tuesday, January 8, 2013

The danger is generally LOW. For those venturing into the high, steep alpine terrain, pockets of shallow wind slab can be expected in the easterly to southerly facing starting zones. Anticipate continued loose snow potential in the steepest terrain on the northerly and easterly aspects as well.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements

We have a bunch of great education events coming up this week:

UAC Forecaster Drew Hardesty will be giving a free talk in Park City at Treasure Mountain Junior High tonight, discussing how to match terrain to snowpack conditions. More info HERE.

UAC Forecaster Evelyn Lees will lead our Women's Backcountry 101 introductory avalanche class. A Thursday evening talk, followed by a Saturday field day. For more information and to sign up, go HERE.

UAC Forecaster Brett Kobernik will do a free "Fireside Chat" at Black Diamond Thursday night which will include a seasonal snowpack review up to this point and discuss how to get into bigger terrain after persistent weak layers have been present. DETAILS HERE

Weather and Snow

We have overcast skies with temps are in the upper teens and low 20s. Accompanying winds with the current "storm" moving through has winds in the 15mph range with the the most exposed elevations showing hourly averages in the 20mph range with gusts into the 30s. I suspect they'll lose steam by the afternoon if not midday.

We have a new Blog post - "In Defense of Sidecountry" - read this and other posts here. (You can also find the link in the menu above)

Recent Avalanches

None.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

The bump in northwesterly winds will likely create some shallow drifts along the high easterly to south facing slopes today. These should be easily mitigated with careful slope cuts and moving across terrain from area of safety to area of safety. Low danger allows us to get into more terrain; however even a small sluff or shallow wind slab knocking us off our feet or ride can have significance when above terrain with consequence. The yellow refers to pockets of moderate hazard.

Additional Information

A weak disturbance embedded in the west to northwest flow will produce a few more flurries this morning. Temps will be in the low 20s at 10,000' and the upper 20s at 8000'. The strong northwesterly winds, confined to the highest peaks and ridgelines, should start to diminish by early afternoon if not midday. Strong southwesterly pre-frontal winds arrive late Wednesday into early Thursday ahead of Thursday's cold Pacific storm. Mountain temps plummet to near zero by Saturday...with snowfall amounts in the 8-12" range. Above all, the valleys should be swept clean by late Thursday...

General Announcements

Go to http://www.backcountry.com/utah-avalanche-center to get tickets from our partners at Park City, Beaver Mountain, Canyons, 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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