Provo Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Brett Kobernik

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Our partners, the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, with the Snowbird Renaissance Center, are hosting the annual Utah Backcountry Awareness Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction Friday, February 13th, from 5:30-9:00 pm, at Snowbird. It’s a bit of a splurge, but it’s always a very enjoyable evening. Included is dinner, a silent auction, inspirational speaker Chris Waddell chronicling how he overcame a life-changing college skiing accident to become the most decorated male skier in Paralympic history, plus live entertainment by “Stormy Mountain Boys”. For details and tickets, go to the Snowbird Renaissance Center's web site.


BOTTOM LINE

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


Danger Rose Tutorial

A MODERATE danger exists on steep slopes with fresh drifts of windblown snow. These pockets are most pronounced at mid and upper elevation terrain with northerly aspects. MODERATE means human triggered slides are possible. Also, continue to pay attention to any new snow in non wind affected terrain as well to see if it becomes sensitive. Quick hand pits and slope cuts should reveal this weakness if it’s present.


CURRENT CONDITIONS

Snow conditions became quite variable over the last few days with a mix of soft recrystallized powder, wind and sun affected snow, and many old tracks. Temperatures overnight remained mild and were around 30 at the 7000 to 8000 foot range. They’re in the low 20s at 10,000 feet. Gusty southerly winds picked up and are averaging 10 to 20 along the ridgetops but gusting 40 to 50 in the more exposed locations. We have snow showers occurring in a number of mountain locations this morning.


RECENT ACTIVITY

Some minor wet activity was reported from lower elevation terrain including some north aspects on Thursday. Also, some skiers found a few small pockets that cracked out in the White Pine and Hogum drainages of Little Cottonwood Canyon. All the activity reported had minor consequences.


THREAT #1

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

The first thing we want to keep in mind for today is fresh drifts that may have formed due to the increased wind speeds and new snow. These drifts could have formed on top of areas where weak snow is preserved. This combination could be sensitive to the weight of a person. During your travels, continually poke at any fresh drifts you come across that are in safe terrain to get a feel if they are sensitive or not. (MORE)


THREAT #2

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

The next thing we’ll want to pay attention to is the new snow if it actually accumulates enough this morning. Similar to the wind slabs I mentioned, we’ll want to pay attention to areas where the weak snow that formed over the last week may be preserved and could make the new snow sensitive. Again, mid and upper elevation northerly facing slopes are where you may find underlying weakness.


MOUNTAIN WEATHER

Snow showers will continue this morning and taper off mid day. Accumulations will be 1 to 5 inches. The gusty southerly winds will shift more west and slow as the day goes on. Ridgetop temperatures will stay in the low to mid 20s. A storm system concentrated to our south will keep things unsettled through the weekend and may produce periods of snow showers with minor accumulations as of now. Models show a few systems that will move through the Western US into next week which will also keep things unsettled with chances for snow.


GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Wasatch Powderbird Guides did not fly on Thursday and most likely won’t fly today due to weather. Operations planning page is here.

The last of the Beaver Mountain Discount tickets have been reduced to $35, with all proceeds going to the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. Click HERE for details.

Tickets are now available for the annual Backcountry Awareness Dinner on February 13th, with registration through the Snowbird Renaissance Center.

Beacon training parks are up and running! There is one at Snowbasin, one on the Park City side at the top of Canyon’s gondola, one in Little Cottonwood near the Snowbird parking structure on the bypass road, and in Big Cottonwood a training park is at the west end of Solitude's lower parking lot.

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

For a text only version, the link is on the left side bar, near the top.

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.

Your snow and avalanche observations help everyone in the backcountry community. Please let us know what you're seeing by leaving 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 advisory by 7:30 tomorrow 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.