Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Provo Area Mountains Issued by Drew Hardesty for Tuesday - April 8, 2014 - 7:22am
bottom line

With direct sun and skyrocketing temperatures, the danger will rise to CONSIDERABLE on and beneath all of the steep sunlit slopes today. Natural and human triggered wet avalanches are likely during and just after the heat of the day. Also avoid being in or above terrain traps in steep northerly low to mid-elevation terrain. A MODERATE danger exists for lingering storm snow avalanches in the northeast to south facing terrain above about 9000'; and pockety on other aspects...
special announcement

SALE! on all remaining discount lift tickets donated to the Utah Avalanche Center from Snowbasin, the Canyons, Beaver Mountain, Sundance, and Brian Head: The few remaining tickets are being blown out with all proceeds used to pay for avalanche advisories and education. Go here to get your tickets.
current conditions

Skies are clear. The northwesterly winds are generally less than 15mph with a few gusts to 35 in the highest terrain. A superficial refreeze exists in the Provo mountains where overnight lows are near 40 degrees. Wind and sun damage has carved out the lion's share of the terrain with a few patches of soft settled powder in the highest elevation protected northerly terrain.

recent activity

Fewer reports from the b/c in the Provo mountains, though Joey Dempster provided an excellent report from Timpanogos

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Sunday/Sunday night's northwesterly winds were enough to stress the new/old snow interface from the weekend's storm and we had a number of wind drifts triggered up to 12" deep by either intentional slope cut, natural cornice fall, or wet loose snow cascading down from above. These were primarily along ridgelines in east to southeast facing terrain.

Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 12 hours
description

Warmer overnight "lows", direct sun,skyrocketing temps, and insult-to-injury potential for afternoon green-housing will have an earlier and perhaps more significant wet avalanche activity today, particularly in the Ogden and Provo area mountains. Loose wet point releases are likely to pry out slow-to-heal storm snow down to the Thurs/Friday crust, resulting in slab avalanche pockets as well. The window for the steeper terrain will be short today - too early and it'll be breakable crust, too late and you'll find yourself rag-dolling among the white wet cement. Debris piles may be again significant below steep, sustained, confined terrain.

Don't overlook the effect the heat will have on the steep lower elevation northerly terrain that still held cold dry snow from the weekend...the steep north facing gullies and terrain traps should be avoided once the snow becomes damp...
Avalanche Problem 2
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

The weekend's storm snow bonded poorly to the Thurs/Friday snow surfaces that harbored some small grain faceted snow above a melt-freeze crust. Additional stress in the form of wind drifting and direct sun/solar radiation induced creep (~downhill flow of the snow) hasn't allowed the "epoxy to set" or "glue to dry" among this interface...and I'll wager that a few more isolated pockets can be triggered today in similar fashion to yesterday. These will be most prominent on south and southeast facing slopes above 8000', give or take.... Loose wet point releases are likely to pry out slow-to-heal storm snow down to the Thurs/Friday crust, resulting in slab avalanche pockets as well.
Avalanche Problem 3
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

CORNICES -

It's that time of year where the large overhanging cornices collapse due to their own weight, pulling well beyond the apex of the ridgeline. Note Mark White's photo where even someone standing on the ridge could have the carpet pulled out from underneath them. I'd call this a hybrid cornice/slab....
weather

Sunny skies will prevail with generally light backing winds and temps soaring to the mid to upper 50s at 8000' and the mid to upper 40s at 10,000'. High, thin cirrus may foster some greenhousing and additional warming of the snowpack today...with a poor refreeze expected tonight. We'll have additional high clouds tomorrow ahead of a weak cool front Wednesday evening. Temps rebound for Friday with a lost cut-off Low pressure system ejecting through central/southern Utah over the weekend.

general announcements

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.

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 (801-223-4150)

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Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.  

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

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

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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.

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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 exist.