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Forecast for the Provo Area Mountains

Issued by Bruce Tremper for
Thursday, March 28, 2013

The avalanche danger will rise from Low this morning to Moderate this afternoon.

Watch for:
1) Wet sluffs and perhaps some glide avalanches with afternoon heating
2) With afternoon convective showers, watch for recent wind slabs deposited in upper elevation dry, loose snow and also for small avalanches in the graupel (that Styrafoam ball-type of snow)

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Thanks to generous funding by Backcountry.com and to Jonathan Lund and our other friends at Garafa for their hard work and generous support for the Utah backcountry community.


Also, be sure to take our quick survey on a different view for the avalanche danger rose:

Weather and Snow

Temperatures continue their slow uphill trend. It was in the lower 50's in the mountains yesterday and only freezing overnight. Most slopes have a sun crust with the exception of some lingering dry snow on the upper elevation northerly facing slopes that still ride pretty well. Check the Snow Page for details.

The 3-day temperature and relative humidity graph

Recent Avalanches

No significant activity reported yesterday except for a few wet sluffs on steep slopes as they heated up. More glide cracks are appearing as well. But then again, not many people were in the backcountry yesterday.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
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Description

Tricky, changeable weather today will create tricky, changeable avalanche conditions. It will really feel like spring today with very warm temperatures combined with afternoon convective clouds, which may produce graupel and even some lightning. So you will have to watch for a variety of different avalanche concerns today based on what the weather does:

1) Watch for wet sluffs and perhaps some glide avalanches with afternoon heating
2) Convective afternoon showers often produce strong, gusty wind, graupel and perhaps even lightning. So watch for wind recent wind slabs deposited in upper elevation dry, loose snow and also for small avalanches in the graupel (that Styrafoam ball-type of snow that stings your face).

Generally the avalanche danger from these problems will be relatively minor with the overall danger rating rising from Low this morning rising to Moderate by afternoon.

Additional Information

As my soon-to-be-96-year-old, Czech Mother in Law says, "Spring is a fight between winter and summer." Today's weather will have more choices than a Chinese restaurant. Take your pick, warm, sun, clouds, rain, snow, wind, perhaps even some lightning. If you don't like it, wait 5 minutes.

Temperatures should rise from freezing this morning to the mid 50's again and then we should get some convective, afternoon showers that could bring--who knows what?

The extended forecast calls for more of the same spring weather for as far out as we can see.

General Announcements

Go to http://www.backcountry.com/utah-avalanche-center to get EVEN MORE DISCOUNTED tickets from our partners at Beaver Mountain and Sundance. 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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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 by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet.

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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