Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Provo Area Mountains Issued by Brett Kobernik for Saturday - March 28, 2015 - 6:55am
bottom line

The avalanche danger will rise to MODERATE with daytime heating. Human triggered wet loose snow avalanches are possible. Some natural avalanche activity is also possible. Get off of sunny slopes as they start to get too wet. Keep in mind what is above you as the day progresses as to not be somewhere a wet avalanche could come down from above.




special announcement

THIS ADVISORY IS VALID FOR SATURDAY, 3-28-15 AND SUNDAY 3-29-15. WE WILL UPDATE AS CONDITIONS WARRANT WHICH MAY NOT BE UNTIL MID WEEK.

We are publishing backcountry observations on a daily basis and you can find them all at our NEWEST AVALANCHE CONTENT WEB PAGE.
current conditions

Temperatures continue to warm over the last few days with readings this morning about 5 degrees warmer than at this time yesterday. Most of the higher stations are in the mid 30s to low 40s. Wind is fairly light and variable in direction but mostly from a westerly direction. Skies were clear overnight which should have helped with a refreeze of the snow surface despite the warm temperatures.

I always think it's interesting how the snow surface can freeze solid when the air temperatures are above freezing. How can this happen? It doesn't make sense! It has to do with this "voodoo like" thing we call radiation which effects the snow in many ways. With this freezing process, think of the clear night sky sucking the heat out of the snow. This "voodoo" trumps the air temperatures in some weird way and freezes the snow surface.
Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 8 hours
description

Wet avalanche activity is your main avalanche concern today. We are in a typical spring pattern where the avalanche danger decreases at night when the snow cools off and the danger increases during the daytime heating as the snow becomes wet. The way to deal with it is early starts and early exits. Think about where your route will put you later in the day so you don't wind up on or below slopes that are becoming unstable.

Here is a great backcountry observation from Mark White where he describes how to mitigate the typical spring time wet avalanche concerns.
weather

Today, Saturday, we'll see clear skies with ridgetop temperatures pushing 50 and light southwest wind. A minor disturbance will produce clouds this afternoon and tonight and bump southwest winds slightly. Sunday will have clear skies and high temperatures a few degrees cooler than Saturday with moderate to light northwest winds. It looks like temperatures warm again slightly early in the week then a pattern shift will cool things down quite a bit for middle to the end of the week. The minor anticipated storm systems don't look like they'll produce much snow accumulations at this time.
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.