Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Provo Area Mountains Issued by Drew Hardesty for Wednesday - January 28, 2015 - 6:29am
bottom line

We have a mostly LOW danger in the backcountry today. Any new sluffing or shallow wind drifting should remain minor and manageable for old hands and other experienced backcountry travellers.




special announcement

RESEARCH PROJECT ON UNDERSTANDING TRAVEL BEHAVIOR IN AVALANCHE TERRAIN NEEDS YOU!

Scientists from the Snow and Avalanche Lab at Montana State University are seeking more participants for their project examining decision making and travel in avalanche terrain. Their project aims to collect GPS location information (from your smartphone) and survey responses from backcountry skiers and riders to better understand what types of terrain are used and how decisions are made. Their focus is on backcountry skiers and riders of all abilities and experience.

For more information: www.montana.edu/snowscience/tracks For snowmobilers: www.montana.edu/snowscience/sleds

current conditions

It's actually snowing. The central and southern Wasatch are reporting a trace to an inch of new while areas north of I-80 have 3-5" thus far. Temps have dropped to the mid-20s; winds are generally less than 15mph from the west and southwest.

recent activity

None.

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

It's mostly Low danger in the central and southern Wasatch range. Any new snow should bond relatively well to the pre-existing warm, corrugated and heavily tracked snow surfaces. The key will be to see if we get more snow than forecasted, if snowfall rates spike for an hour or two, or if the winds pick up more than we expect. All things being equal, these are all quite manageable avalanche hazards where the snow will show it's cards with simple hand pits or slope cuts.

weather

A weak system lifting northeast through the area will bring additional snow showers throughout the range today. Winds should swing around to the west and northwest and remain generally less than 15mph. Temps at the 10k level are forecasted to be in the low to mid-20s. The next storm driving out of the southwest should move through on Friday into early Saturday but has its sights set more on central and southern Utah. Weak ridging follows for the weekend with models suggesting a brief return to a moist westerly flow by early next week.

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, 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)

EMAIL ADVISORY  If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.​ 

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, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral

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

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.  

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

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

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.  You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here. IMPORTANT: Before skinning or hiking 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.

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.