Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Provo Area Mountains Issued by Mark Staples for Monday - January 9, 2017 - 7:34am
bottom line

More avalanches will occur today and the avalanche danger is rated HIGH at the upper elevations. The danger is CONSIDERABLE at mid elevations. At mid and low elevations, both loose wet and persistent slab avalanches are possible.
avalanche warning

THE FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER IN SALT LAKE CITY HAS CONTINUED THE BACKCOUNTRY AVALANCHE WARNING.

* TIMING...THROUGH 6PM WEDNESDAY

* AFFECTED AREA...THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH, TO INCLUDE THE WASATCH RANGE, THE BEAR RIVER RANGE AND THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHEAST IDAHO, THE WESTERN UINTAS, AND THE MANTI-SKYLINE PLATEAU.

* AVALANCHE DANGER...THE DANGER IS HIGH

* REASON/IMPACTS...HEAVY SNOWFALL AND STRONG WINDS, COMBINED WITH AIN ON SNOW AT THE LOWER ELEVATIONS WILL CREATE WIDESPREAD DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS. AVOID BEING ON OR BENEATH STEEP SLOPES. AVALANCHES RELEASING OFF STEEP ROOFS MAY BE DANGEROUS IN THE URBAN AND MOUNTAIN VALLEYS.

THIS WARNING DOES NOT APPLY TO SKI AREAS WHERE AVALANCHE HAZARD REDUCTION MEASURES ARE PERFORMED.
special announcement

TONIGHT: The Salt Lake City premier of The Fourth Phase from the creators of The Art of Flight will at Brewvies at 7 pm on Monday, Jan 9 as a fundraiser for the Utah Avalanche Center. For tickets and details click HERE.
current conditions

This morning it looked like a giant hair dryer had been blowing all night and melted all the snow and ice in my driveway. Similar conditions exist in the mountains where the main weather event overnight has been strong S winds and warm temperatures. The rain/snow line was above 8500 feet this morning with temperatures at many trailheads in the upper 30's F. Winds last night and this morning were averaging 30 mph from the S gusting 50-70 mph. High peaks have winds averaging 50 mph gusting to 90 mph.

Since yesterday morning 6-8 inches of snow fell (0.9 inches of snow water equivalent) on top of 5-7 inches of snow from the previous 24 hours though it will be hard to measure today with such strong winds.
recent activity

Yesterday ski patrols easily triggered many shallow avalanches with ski cuts and explosives. Natural and skier triggered avalanches were observed in the backcountry as well about 6-8 inches deep on northerly facing slopes. Loose wet avalanches occured yesterday and some roofs (especially steep metal ones) shed their snow. Natural avalanches were spotted in Cascade Cirque, Elk Point, and perhaps near Bridal Veil falls.

Photo below of a natural avalanche near Mineral Basin in American Fork Canyon.
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

Natural and human triggered avalanches occurred yesterday. With continued strong winds and more snow, expect more avalanches. They were breaking up 6-8 inches deep yesterday and should be larger today with a harder slab from such strong winds. These slides will be most likely on slopes loaded by S winds. Non wind loaded slopes should produce human triggered slides especially later this morning during the heaviest snowfall. Cornice have been growing and may start falling and triggering slides as well.
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

At mid to low eleavations, there is a rain crust from December 16th with a layer of weak facets above it. This layer is on all aspects below 7500 feet. It produced persistent slab avalanches in the Provo area mountains last week (some triggered from a distance), and may produce more slides today.
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

The peak threat from loose wet avalanches already occurred during the initial warm-up yesterday when rain fell on cold, dry snow. With more rain today at low elevations and some at mid elevations, the possibility remains for more loose, wet avalanches. These slides will mainly be a problem near terrain traps like gullies where avalanche debris can pile up deeply or in other terrain (like ice climbs) where the consequences of a small slide are severe.
weather

Today's temperatures will cool very slowly with snow/rain continuing this morning. The rain/snow line should reach the valley floors by late tonight. Today, above 9000 feet an additional 5-9 inches of snow will fall (0.7-1.2 inches of snow water equivalent) and more will fall tongiht. The good news is that slowly cooling temperatures will make much lighter snow by tomorrow morning. Winds are the main avalanche issue and should continue from the S averaging 30-40 mph with gust of 50-80 mph.
general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out 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.

To get help in an emergency (to request a rescue) in the Wasatch, call 911. Be prepared to give your GPS coordinates or the run name. Dispatchers have a copy of the Wasatch Backcountry Ski map.

Backcountry Emergencies. It outlines your step-by-step method in the event of a winter backcountry incident.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry, but no one is hurt and you do not need assistance, please notify the nearest ski area dispatch to avoid a needless response by rescue teams. Thanks.

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.

Powderbird Helicopter Skiing - Blog/itinerary for the day

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

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

To those skinning uphill at resorts: it is critical to know the resort policy on uphill travel. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here.

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.