Provo Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Drew Hardesty

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

On Friday, March 20th, the Canyons Professional Ski Patrol Association is having a fund raiser for the Friends of the UAC at Pirate O’s. Doors open at 7 pm, and live music from Junior and Transportation, a silent auction, raffle, and more are included in the $15 cover charge/donation. Details

The North American Avalanche Danger Scale is being revised for next winter. Our friends in Canada have created a short survey found at the following link. Please help ensure the new Avalanche Danger Scale is effective by completing a survey. http://surveys.globalepanel.com/wix/p319164581.aspx


BOTTOM LINE

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


Danger Rose Tutorial

The avalanche danger will rise to MODERATE for wet sluff avalanching and will be most pronounced on the low to mid-elevation shady slopes with daytime warming. The upper elevation northerly and easterly aspects are dotted with shallow, pockety wind drifts and may pose a hazard in unforgiving terrain.


CURRENT CONDITIONS

Patchy clouds line the Wasatch this morning under a warm westerly flow. The “freezing line” hovers tentatively at about 9000’-9300’ and the winds are 20-30mph along the ridgelines. Riding conditions have deteriorated since Saturday as the warmth started to work its way up the shady aspects and the winds had their way with the high, open terrain.


RECENT ACTIVITY

Climbing “free air” temperatures dampened the otherwise cold snow up to about 8000’ on the shady aspects yesterday. This set the stage for intentional skier- released wet sluffs running beneath the Y-Not Couloir, a very steep and committing north facing chute above Little Cottonwood Canyon. There is very little room for error and, aside from booting back up the thing and literally rocking climbing above the choke, they were forced down the intended objective onto wet loose snow primed for avalanching. Snow “management” skills needed to be, and were, spot-on.

And in other news, up in the Ogden mountains, a black Labrador retriever simply sat on the snow on a north facing slope at 6500’ and triggered a sizeable wet sluff. Similar activity was reported in the Logan area mountains, though dogs, I hear, were not involved.

It was an eagle instead. A field day in the Wellsvilles had our forecaster Toby Weed and partner Darren McAvoy rescue an injured eagle. Photos here. Good work boys


THREAT #1

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 8 hours.

It is indeed a delicate balance between

1. Incoming solar radiation

2. Relative humidity

3. Cloud cover

4. Free air temperature, and

5. Wind

to determine what kind of wet activity you’ll have. The type of snow on the surface is also critical. In our case, cold, dry snow warming for the first time will be most prone to avalanching. Thin, shallow, unsupportable, saturated areas at the lower elevations may also be prone. Continue the habit of getting off of and out from underneath the steep sun exposed slopes as they transition from supportable quasi-corn to sloppy wet glop.


THREAT #2

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

Isolated pockets of soft and hard wind slab dot the upper elevation northerly and easterly slopes. This shallow natural from yesterday is the type of activity to consider in high terrain near ridgelines, particularly if one has, say, unforgiving terrain below.


MOUNTAIN WEATHER

We’ll have scattered clouds today with slightly warmer temperatures getting into the upper 40s at 8000 feet and mid-30s along the ridges. Winds will be a bit gusty and continue to average 10 to 15 mph gusting into the 20s along the mid elevation ridges with gusts in the 30s and 40s along the highest terrain. High pressure builds for the latter part of the week ahead of what looks like a return to winter by week’s end.


GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Wasatch Powderbird Guides probably won’t get out due to wind today. Their operations planning page is here.

Our web site is now formatted for iPhone. You can also download a free iPhone application from Canyon Sports to display the Bottom Line. Search for Utah Avalanche on the Apple's iPhone Apps page or in iTunes.

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 toward the Tombstone lift, 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).

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. To find out more about how you can support our efforts to continue providing the avalanche forecasting and education that you expect please visitour Friends page.

Your snow and avalanche observations can save someone’s life. 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.

I 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.