 |
|
|
|
Sunday - March 23, 2008 -
7:53 am | |
|
|
 |
Saturday's advisory updated on Easter
Sunday morning.....
Triggered avalanches are
possible this weekend on steep slopes in the
backcountry.....Happy
Easter...
| | |
|
|
|
Danger by |
|
|
ASPECT & ELEVATION
|
BOTTOM LINE |
|
on slopes over 35
degrees |
|
 |
There’s a MODERATE avalanche danger in
the backcountry, and you could trigger avalanches on
some slopes steeper than about 35
degrees. Persistent slab avalanches are
possible on very steep slopes at upper elevations.
Wet avalanches will become possible midday as the
snow is warmed on sunny slopes especially at lower and
mid elevations, and you should avoid and stay out from
under all steep slopes with saturated
snow.
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
| LINKS TO MORE INFO:
|
|
| |
Once again, It’ll be a bluebird day
in the backcountry, with plenty of high angle spring
sunshine and some fresh snow to play in. The Bear
River Mountains picked up a bit more powder yesterday
and overnight, with the Tony Grove Snotel showing around
6 inches of new snow. The station is currently
reading 100 inches total snow on the ground containing
104% of average water weight for the date. This
could well be the highpoint since with significantly
warmer temperatures forecast in the next few days I’d
expect to start seeing some melting. Yesterday, we
found really nice powder conditions on due north facing
upper elevation slopes and a wide selection of sun or
heat-created crusts elsewhere. The snow at lower
elevations is saturated and slushy through and through
and you can easily spin your track in or sink to the
ground once surface crusts soften. The Campbell
Scientific weather station on Logan Peak recorded north
winds averaging in the teens overnight, and it’s 6
degrees at 9400’.
|
| |
| RECENT AVALANCHES
AND SNOWPACK INFO >>> | |
|
|
On the second field day of the Avalanche
Fundamentals class on Saturday we found a couple nice
examples of recent persistent slab avalanches in the
Naomi Peak Area, (new
photos). These 1-2’ deep slab avalanches on easterly
facing slopes above 9000’, triggered by cornice-fall and
snowmobilers, indicate the potential for more activity
on similar, very steep upper elevation slopes. In
test pits I found a suspect weak layer consisting of
graupel and small sugary faceted grains, which continues
to produce clean and fairly energitic shears with slab
propagation.
A skier reports triggering
a small slab running on faceted snow on the front side
of the Bear River Range above North
Logan.
A
snowmobiler triggered a rogue deep slab in the Western
Uinta Mountains yesterday and took a nasty ride with his
sled but luckily survived. (Western
Uinta)
It was an active
week locally, with a handful of natural wind slab
avalanches at upper elevations on Tuesday and Wednesday
(photos
from 3-19) and extensive natural wet activity due to
warmth and rain on Wednesday and Thursday, (photos).
| | |
|
|
 |
WHERE |
PROBABILITY |
SIZE |
TREND |
 |
|
|
Increasing
Danger |
| Same |
Decreasing
Danger | |
 |
| over the next 24
hrs | | |
Significant wet avalanches are likely on steep sunny
slopes again today as solar warming turns the fresh surface
snow into slush. Some cornices could become active with
heating. You could find even smallish wet avalanches
entraining lots of mass and traveling far. Warming is
likely to cause a more widespread problem in the next couple
days even on shady low and mid elevation slopes Continue
to avoid and stay out from under steep sunny slopes with
saturated snow at all
elevations.
| |
 |
WHERE |
PROBABILITY |
SIZE |
TREND |
 |
|
|
Increasing
Danger |
| Same |
Decreasing
Danger | |
 |
| over the
next 24
hrs | | |
Triggered wind or persistent slab avalanches 1-2' feet
deep are possible on very steep upper elevation slopes.
Many areas are plagued by weak layers consisting of
small sugary grains called near surface facets and a
tricky overlaying slab. Avalanche slide paths
in the area are well filled-in and smooth, so even relatively
small avalanches might run far or
fast.
| |
|
|
|
|
A high pressure system will build into the area
today bringing fair weather and lots of sunshine.
It will be unseasonably warm on both Sunday and
Monday. A return to more stormy weather is a good
bet for early next week, with a stalled front
several inches accumulating by Tuesday
evening.
| | |
| GENERAL
ANNOUNCEMENTS >>> | |
Today’s
advisory is brought to you in part by the Friends of the Utah
Avalanche Center in Logan with help from Black
Diamond.
Check
out the images
page for photos of some of this season’s
avalanches.
Go to the Avalanche
Encyclopedia if you have any questions
about terms I use in the advisory.
I'm very interested
to know what you're seeing out there. Please
e-mail observations to me at [email protected]
or leave me a message at 755-3638, especially if you see or
trigger an avalanche in the backcountry. We keep all
observations confidential.
This advisory will expire in
24 hours from the posting
time.
| |
| The
information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service,
which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory
describes general avalanche conditions and local variations
always occur. | |
|
This advisory provided by the Wasatch Cache
National Forest, in partnership with:
Utah State
Parks and Recreation, Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center-Logan,
and Utah State University College of Natural Resources.
|
