Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Provo Area Mountains Issued by Brett Kobernik for Saturday - January 4, 2014 - 7:25am
bottom line

There is an overall MODERATE avalanche danger today. Human triggered avalanches are possible. Watch for fresh drifts on the northeast through southeast facing aspects. Watch for crossloaded pockets of wind drifted snow on all aspects.
current conditions

We've picked up around 1 to 2 inches of snow overnight, a legitimate refresher for this season. The wild card is the wind. It was gusty up in the high country with gusts in the 30s and 40s overnight. I would anticipate that these winds are blew the new snow around quite a bit. It looks like the winds have slowed a bit now. Temperatures have plummeted into the mid teens and even single digits at the higher elevations.
Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

CONFIDENCE IS LOW WITH THIS AVALANCHE PROBLEM. It is very hard to forecast how the winds effected the new snow. It is possible that there are a bunch of fresh drifts that are quite sensitive. These drifts could perhaps be large enough to overload buried weak layers which would produce a much more dangerous avalanche compared to just a fresh wind slab.

However, it is also possible that we won't see much of a change in avalanche conditions. You are going to need to assess things thoroughly today. Use small steep test slopes whenever you see a chance to poke at a drift. Use ski cuts prior to diving into anything. Continue to prod at the new snow to get a feel of how easy it cracks.

You need to treat this as a dangerous situation until proven otherwise.
weather

We may see a few lingering snow showers today without much accumulation anticipated. Temperatures will be in the teens. Winds will continue to be annoying from the northwest. Temperatures drop into the single digits tonight with showers ending. Things will clear out for Sunday but the pesky northerly winds will remain. Temperatures will get into the upper teens. It looks like there may be a few disturbances later next week that could add a few inches of snow.
general announcements

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.

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)

Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123).

Sundance Dispatch (801-231-4150)

EMAIL ADVISORY Get the Salt Lake avalanche advisory emailed to you every morning.  CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures:  LINK TO UDOT

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.uned.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.  They'll be up and running later this winter -

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Discount lift tickets are now available at Backcountry.com - Thanks to Ski Utah and the Utah Resorts.  All proceeds go towards paying for Utah Avalanche Center avalanche and mountain weather advisories.

To those skinning uphill at resorts:  it is your responsibility to know the resort policy on uphill travel.  Some allow uphill travel and have guidelines, some don't. Contact the Ski Patrol at each resort for details. IMPORTANT: Before skinning at a resort under new snow conditions, check in with Ski Patrol.  Resorts can restrict or cut off access if incompatible with control and grooming operations.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI:  Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC.  Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell.  You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

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 or Instagram.

Ski Utah mobile snow updates:
http://www.skiutah.com/get-mobile-snow-updates/