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Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Evelyn Lees
Issued by Evelyn Lees for
Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The avalanche danger is MODERATE for triggering a wind drift on steep mid and upper elevation slopes, especially those facing northeast through southeast. The avalanche danger will also rise to MODERATE for wet avalanche activity on east, then south, then west facing slopes as the day heats up.

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Weather and Snow

Yesterday’s classic little northwest flow storm brought disparate snow totals to the northern mountains – LCC and the Powder Mountain side of the Ogden Valley received 7” to 12”, elsewhere 1” to 5” was the norm, with the Provo area mountains missed. The snow averaged less than 5% density. It still feels like winter this morning, with temperatures in the zero to 10 degree range, and even a few subzero readings in the canyon bottoms and on the highest peaks. The northwesterly winds are almost calm this morning, averaging less than 10 mph.

Recent Avalanches

It was a quiet day, with few backcountry reports and no reports of avalanche activity. Collapsing was noted on an east southeast facing slope on Cascade Ridge in the Provo area mountains.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

As usual, the slopes with an easterly facing component received the most wind drifting over the past 24 hours due to the typical southwest to northwesterly winds. The wind drifts need another day or two to settle out and strengthen, and should be avoided on steep slopes. The chance of triggering a wind slab increase with elevation, especially at or above 11,000’. Other cold snow issues include:

  • After a cold, clear night, the surface snow will want to sluff, especially on slopes that received the most snow yesterday.
  • A few isolated, mostly mid elevation northerly facing slopes, have isolated spots where you could trigger a slab on a slightly deeper weak layer. Below is a profile from a weaker, northeasterly facing slope on West Monitor.

Avalanche Problem #2
Wet Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

There will be plenty of solar warming today - both direct sun and sun filtered through high thin clouds – which will increase the danger of wet slides as the day and snow heats up.

  • Wet loose sluffs will become easy to trigger on steep, sunny slopes, especially in areas that received the most new snow yesterday – LCC and parts of Ogden mountains.
  • Reflected radiation from the high thin clouds may heat snow on the shady, northerly facing slopes, so watch for sluffing and avoid terrain traps like gullies if the snow becomes damp and sensitive where you are.
  • There is some weaker layering involving thin crusts and facets in the upper snowpack on the east and southeasterly facing slopes that may allow for a few small slab avalanches, not just sluffs, with heating.
Additional Information

High pressure building into the Great Basin will bring partly sunny skies and light winds today. Temperatures will warm into the low to mid-teens at 10,000’ and the northwesterly winds will increase slightly at the highest elevations, with averages in the 15 to 20 mph range. Bands of high thin clouds will alternate with mostly clear skies today, while Thursday will be mostly cloudy. The warming will continue into the weekend, with 10,000’ temperatures near 32 degrees by Saturday. The next storm is expected around Sunday night.

General Announcements

Go to http://www.backcountry.com/utah-avalanche-center to get tickets from our partners at 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 (801-745-3772 ex 123)

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

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

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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

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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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