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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Avalanche advisory
wednesday, April 3, 2002 07:30 AM
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Good morning, this is Evelyn
Lees with the
Current Conditions:
A cool, dry front moved
through northern
The cooler temperatures
combined with clear overnight skies will give the sunny slopes a short window
of supportable corn crusts this morning, which are thickest below about 10,000’.
But start early, as the crusts will
become breakable by about
Avalanche Conditions:
Our spring snow pack is
undergoing a typical melt-freeze cycle, which is unfortunately a bit heavy on
the melt side of things. The overnight
refreezes of the surface snow are generally shallow, and it is taking only a
few hours of sun and heating for the crusts to become breakable, followed by a rapid
transition to wet slush. Once this
happens, the strength of the surface snow is gone, and it’s time to change
aspect or go home. Yesterday, a backcountry traveler near
So early starts and early
finishes are the guidelines for spring travel on sunny slopes. Remember, snow heats up fastest on steeper
slopes and around rocks. If you’re out
for a full day, work the terrain to stay on the aspects and elevations that are
cooler.
In addition to wet snow
sluffs, there are isolated locations and times when you could trigger a “corn
slab” just as the crusts are heat up. Several
were reported last week, averaging a foot deep.
If you can push your ski pole through a relatively thin melt-freeze
crust, or if you hear and feel collapsing in the snow, head to a different
slope.
Anther concern is the
potential for glide avalanches on steep slopes underlain by rock slabs. Glide cracks have been observed on some of
this type of terrain. There also remains
an isolated chance of triggering an avalanche that could fail on a deeper weak
layer, especially on steep shady slopes and in thin snow pack areas.
Bottom Line:
On sunny slopes, the avalanche danger is generally LOW early
this morning but will rise to MODERATE by midmorning
with heating. There is also a MODERATE danger of triggering a deep dangerous hard slab
avalanche in steep terrain, especially in thinner snowpack areas.
(
Same as
(
Same as
Mountain Weather:
Another
hot, sunny day is in store for the northern
General Information:
Wasatch
Powderbird Guides will fly a few runs in American Fork today. For more information call 521-6040 ext. 5280.
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. We have a new avalanche and backcountry observation page that we’d like
to encourage folks to try out. It can be
found on our home website at avalanche.org. You can also fax an observation to
801-524-6301.
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: