Wasatch
Cache National Forest
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Avalanche advisory
Monday, MARCH
4, 2002 7:30 AM
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Good morning, this is Ethan
Greene with the
Current Conditions:
Its warming up and for the first time in several days I
don’t need a negative sign to describe the temperature. Overnight low temperatures were in the 5 to
10 degree range at both 8,000’ and 10,000’.
The winds have shifted to the west and have been blowing in the 25 mph
range along the highest ridgelines and in the 10 mph range in lower areas.
Snow surface conditions range
from thin sun and heat crusts to wind slabs and of course soft settled powder
on shady slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
Our
warming trend started out slow, but today it will feel more like March. Temperatures have been warming for the past
two days, but today we will break the 30 degree mark at 8,000’. The cold temperatures made loose snow or
sluff avalanches possible on most aspects, but today dry sluffs will be
confined to the shady slopes. Wet sluffs
are possible on the sunny aspects, but because the warm up has been slow I suspect
the wet activity will be limited and limited to mid and low elevation areas. Look out for signs of increasing wet slide
activity such as roller balls and point releases off of the exposed rocks, and
remember that loose snow avalanches can be deadly if they push you off of a
cliff or into a gully.
Throughout
the
Bottom Line:
The
danger of human triggered avalanches is MODERATE on slopes steeper than about 35
degrees. Human triggered avalanches and
sluffs within the surface snow are possible.
The
possibility of triggering a larger and more dangerous avalanche remains.
(
These
areas have had a thin snowpack most of the winter, and the sugary weak snow is
more common than in the Cottonwood Canyons.
The danger of human triggered avalanches is more widespread in the
(
Same as above.
Mountain Weather:
Today will again be a little
warmer than the last few with temperatures will rising into the low 30’s at
8,000’ and upper teens at 10,000’. Skies
will be mostly sunny and west winds will blow in the 10 to 20 mph range. Tonight temperatures will drop into the mid
teens at 8,000’, and by early Tuesday morning ridge-top winds will increase
into the 30 mph range. A series of weak
disturbances will move trough mid week bringing clouds and some snow to the mountains.
General Information:
The
Wasatch Powderbird Guides will be flying in the Bountiful Sessions today. For more information call 521-6040 ext. 5280.
The
Banff Mountain Film Festival will be at the U of U’s Kingsbury Hall on March 12
and 13, at
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.
For
more detailed mountain weather and avalanche information, your can call 801-364-1591,
which we’ll try to have updated by around
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.
Drew
Hardesty 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: