Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Provo Area Mountains Issued by Greg Gagne for Wednesday - January 11, 2017 - 7:28am
bottom line

There is an avalanche warning today with strong winds and snowfall expected throughout the day. The avalanche danger is HIGH at mid and upper elevations, and CONSIDERABLE at lower elevations. Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended today.

For those that need to safely remedy their powder fever, we are blessed with world-class ski resorts with cracker-jack snow safety teams.

For those that choose to venture into the backcountry today, avoid travel on and below slopes steeper than 30 degrees, and avoid avalanche runout zones. Pay attention to rapidly changing avalanche and weather conditions. Days such as today often remind me of what my mentor Tom Kimbrough once said: "Everyone knew you were an avalanche expert, except the avalanche."
avalanche warning

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

* TIMING...THROUGH 6AM THURSDAY

* 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 AVALANCHE DANGER IS HIGH.

* REASON/IMPACTS...HEAVY SNOWFALL AND STRONG WINDS WILL CREATE WIDESPREAD DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS. BOTH HUMAN TRIGGERED AND NATURAL AVALANCHES ARE LIKELY. STAY OFF OF AND OUT FROM UNDER SLOPES STEEPER THAN 30 DEGREES.

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

Snowbird Speaker Series: Douglas Stoup is the world's leading polar adventurer and has skied to the North and South Poles more than anyone on the planet. He will be speaking at the Wildflower Lounge at Snowbird at 6 pm on Thursday night, Jan 12 with a raffle to benefit the Utah Avalanche Center. Details here.
current conditions

As of 5 am snowfall totals for the past 24 hours from the Provo mountains are 13" with 1.5" of water. The current storm has arrived on a southwest flow and has favored Provo mountain locations. Winds are the big player. They have been out of the southwest and west, blowing in the teens with gusts to around 30 mph at the mid elevations, and gusts over 60 mph at the upper elevations. Moderate to strong gusts have even worked their way into lower elevation terrain. Temperatures are currently in the mid 20's at most stations and it is snowing.
recent activity

UDOT reported results from control work yesterday in Little Cottonwood Canyon, with some large slides yielding impressive dust clouds. You can watch this video from UDOT's Instagram feed. There were no backcountry avalanches reported from the Provo mountains on Tuesday, although there were few observations and poor visibility. Several backcountry observers noted the very large and sensitive cornices that have developed on leeward aspects from the strong westerly winds.

The photo below is a large natural avalanche on a northeast aspect in the Provo mountains that likely occurred on Monday. [Hardesty]
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

Moderate to strong winds from westerly directions have loaded many mid and upper elevation slopes. Such strong and persistent winds often load all aspects as they are channeled around terrain features. The photo below [Zimmerman-Wall] illustrates wind-scouring and cross-loading in Wolverine Cirque.

There is a HIGH avalanche danger today on wind loaded slopes, particularly at the mid and upper elevations.


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

With continued snowfall expected today, storm slabs will develop and may become quite sensitive, especially during any period of heavy precipitation. Although I am expecting any avalanches to occur within the storm snow, some may step down to weaker layers buried down 12-24".

Additionally, loose snow sluffs may run fast and far, entraining large amounts of snow.
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

On Tuesday many observers noted the increasingly large and sensitive cornices that have developed, especially along upper elevation ridgelines. I heard more than one person comment "These are the largest cornices I have ever seen at this location!". These cornices are overhanging, and some have grown to 10'. They were quite sensitive on Tuesday, and were breaking back further than expected. Two observations noted class 1 slides that ran down into trees from large cornice drops.

Stay well-away from the edge if traveling along a ridgeline.

weather

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning through this evening. Snowfall amounts of 4-8" are forecasted throughout the day, with continued moderate to strong winds at the mid and upper elevations. A cold front arrives about mid-day, which should shift the winds from the southwest to the west. Temperatures are currently in the 20's F and are expected to drop throughout the day. Continued snowfall overnight with diminishing winds.
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.