Wasatch
Cache National Forest
In partnership with: The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center, Utah Department of
Public Safety Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management, Salt Lake County,
and Utah State Parks
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Utah Avalanche Center’s Home page has moved!
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Avalanche advisory
WEDNesday, FEBRUARY 13, 2002 4:00 PM
NEW!
If you want
this forecast e-mailed to you each day, click here.
Good afternoon, this is Ethan
Greene with the
Current Conditions:
Today temperatures rose into
the upper 30’s at 8,000’ and mid 20’s at 10,000’. Winds were from the south most of the day in
the 10 mph range. Within the last few
hours the winds have veered to the west and are blowing in the 20 mph range
with gusts over 40.
There are currently
widespread areas of sun crusts and wind crusts or slabs in the backcountry, but
dense, settled powder still exists on sheltered shady slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
The
backcountry snowpack has been stabilizing since last Friday’s wind event, with
no activity to report since the weekend.
Some fresh shallow slabs may have formed around the upper ridgelines
from the recent northerly winds. Today’s
moderate to strong winds moved a little snow around, however there is not much
left to transport.
The
faceted snow under a rain curst that formed in early January remains our
lingering avalanche problem. This weak
layer produced many deep hard slab avalanches, both natural and human
triggered, during January and early February.
This layer seems much less sensitive now, but could be reactivated by a
very large trigger or an unwary winter traveler. The key to avoiding this lingering danger is
to evaluate the stability of each slope before crossing it.
Bottom Line:
The danger of human triggered
avalanches is generally LOW throughout the
(
Mostly
the same general conditions as in the SLC mountains.
(
Mostly
the same general conditions as in the SLC mountains.
Mountain Weather:
High
clouds are increasing this afternoon at the next storm system approaches. This system will produce moderate to strong
winds tonight and into tomorrow. Three
to six inches of new snow are expected, depending on location, by mid day on
Thursday. Overnight the winds will veer
from the west to the northwest and stay in the 25 mph range. By tomorrow evening the winds will be from
the northeast and drop into the 20 mph range.
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.
Tom
Kimbrough will update this advisory by
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