Wasatch
Cache National Forest
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Public Safety Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management, Salt Lake County,
and Utah State Parks
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Avalanche advisory
Tuesday, FEBRUARY 12, 2002 3:30 PM
NEW!
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this forecast e-mailed to you each day, click here.
Good afternoon, this is Tom
Kimbrough with the
Current Conditions:
Ridge top winds were in the
20’s and 30’s for awhile this morning but by
Many slopes have sun and/or
wind damage, but some dense, settled powder still exists on wind sheltered
shady slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
No
new avalanches have been reported since Saturday, and our observers are finding
increasingly stable snow. The weak layer
that produced numerous natural and human triggered avalanches in late January
and early February is less sensitive now but could still produce an unpleasant
surprise, especially on very steep slopes or if stressed by a large load, such
as several people or snowmobiles on a slope at one time.
New
weak layers are also developing, both at the surface and deeper in the pack,
that could give trouble when the next major storm hits the Wasatch.
Bottom Line:
Currently most of the terrain
in the northern Wasatch has a generally LOW
avalanche danger. However, on mid and
upper elevation slopes approaching about 40 degrees steepness, the chance of
triggering a dangerous hard slab avalanche remains MODERATE. While these slides can only be triggered in
isolated areas, the consequences of getting caught in one of these hard slab
avalanches could be severe.
(
Mostly
the same general conditions as in the SLC mountains.
(
Mostly
the same general conditions as in the SLC mountains.
Mountain Weather:
Skies
will be clear tonight but expect increasing clouds on Wednesday as a minor
weather disturbance approaches to give the mountains the chance of a dusting of
snow Wednesday night into Thursday. Low
temperatures tonight will be 10 to 15 degrees at 8,000 feet with highs on
Wednesday in the twenties and thirties.
Winds will shift right around the compass overnight, moving from the
north, through the east and on around to the southwest by mid day
Wednesday. The mountains could get an
inch or two of new snow by Thursday morning.
High pressure will return on Friday but weaken Saturday, with at least
the possibility of a significant storm on Sunday.
General Information:
During
the Olympics, we will issue both morning and afternoon advisories. We’ll use the 364 -1591 line for more
detailed or additional avalanche information.
To
report backcountry snow and avalanche conditions, especially if you observe or
trigger an avalanche, you can leave a message at (801) 524-5304 or
1-800-662-4140. Or you can e-mail an
observation to uacobs@avalanche .org, or you can fax an observation to
801-524-6301.
Wasatch
Powderbird Guides will not be flying for the next couple of weeks.
We
have a new icon-based,
short advisory posted each day at www.avalanche.org. We would appreciate any feedback on this new
product.
The
information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely
responsible for its content. This
advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always
occur.
Carol
Ciliberti will update this advisory by 7:30 on
Wednesday morning.
Thanks
for calling!
_____________________________________________________________________________
For more detailed weather
information go to our Mountain Weather Advisory
National
Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings:
http://www.avalanche.org/usdanger.htm