Provo Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Bruce Tremper

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

The long-awaited and long-anticipated, discount lift ticket sales have finally arrived.  Most of the local ski areas have donnated lift tickets to the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center and you can buy them at a discount HERE.  All the proceeds go toward funding avalanche forecasting and education in Utah.  Thanks to Ski Utah, Backcountry.com and all the participating resorts for this valuable opportunity.  These tickets will go fast, so don't delay.  They make a great stocking stuffer and don't forget to put one in your own stocking.


BOTTOM LINE

Danger by aspect and elevation on slopes approaching 35° or steeper.
(click HERE for tomorrow's danger rating)


Danger Rose Tutorial

Bottom Line for the Provo area mountains:

The avalanche danger is mostly LOW today with pockets of MODERATE danger of lingering wind slabs along the upper elevation ridges.  But more importantly, the danger will rise to at least CONSIDERABLE on Saturday with the arrival of a strong cold front with lingering showers for the rest of the week.


CURRENT CONDITIONS

High clouds and an approaching cold front are keeping our temperatures warm this morning with most mountains locations in the mid to upper 20's.  Winds have started to pick up a little but they should stay fairly reasonable today.  No, there is not a lot of snow until you get up very high, but things will change in a hurry starting Saturday morning. 


RECENT ACTIVITY

There was very little activity yesterday with the exception of some minor wind slabs triggered by snow cats at the resorts along the upper elevation ridges in the Salt Lake area mountains.


THREAT #1

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

Today will be the calm before the storm.  The avalanche danger is mostly Low today and the only places you could trigger an avalanche would be a few stubborn drifts along the upper elevation ridges.

But the main news is the future.  We have a very weak, pre-existing snowpack with a major change in the weather, which will arrive in full force Saturday morning.  This is certain to rapidly increase our avalanche danger.  Although the danger is mostly Low today, it will rapidly increase to Considerable on Saturday.

The smart avalanche folks are out today memorizing the pre-existing snowpack so they can have a good mental picture of where they will and won't trigger avalanches in the coming week.  For instance, most south facing slopes are completely bare and the slopes above 8,000' that face the north and east quadrants of the compass have very weak, settled snow on top of an old rain crust with very weak, faceted snow just under the rain crust.  You should page through some of the recent snow profiles to get the picture firmly burned into your brain. Although most are from the Salt Lake area mountains, they are similar to the upper elevations in the Provo area mountains, but the snow is just shallower and weaker.

Most of our cagy network of observers are frightened of the very weak snow.  Here are some phrases from people who were out digging in the snow yesterday.  "Accidents waiting to happen."  "...will stay down in my basement."  "It will get exciting with the next big dump."  and "My big concern is the next storm cycle."


MOUNTAIN WEATHER

A major change in the weather is nearly upon us, and everyone in town is abuzz with the promise of a return to winter.  Saturday morning, the hammer should slam down with an old-fashioned, stong cold front complete with lightning and a howling blizzard for much of the day.  We should accumulate about a foot of new snow by Saturday night and there's a possibility of more snow after that with lake effect squalls.  After the cold front passes, it should feel like serious winter with mountain temperatures lingering in the single digits for most of the week.

The extended forecast calls for several more pulses of snow in the early part of the week, as most of the energy of the storm passes to the south of us, but we should be able to squeeze some snow out of the cold, unstable air on a south or southwest flow.

Visit the Mountain Weather page for great links on how to follow the progress of this storm.


GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

For the Text Advisory click here.

If you want to get this avalanche advisory e-mailed to you daily click HERE.

 UDOT highway avalanche control work info can be found by calling (801) 975-4838. Our statewide toll free line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, option 8).

The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.  To find out more about how you can support our efforts to continue providing the avalanche forecasting and education that you expect please visit our Friends page.

If you’re getting out and see anything we should know about please let us know.  You can leave a message at (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at uac@utahavalanchecenter.org. (Fax 801-524-6301).

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.

Evelyn Lees will update this forecast by 7:30 on Saturday morning.


This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done.  This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. 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 USDA Forest Service, in partnership with:

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, Utah Division of Emergency Management, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake Unified Fire Authority and the friends of the La Sal Avalanche Center. See our Sponsors Page for a complete list.