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
The FS
Utah Avalanche Center ’s Home page has moved!
Our
new URL is: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/
please update your Bookmarks!
Avalanche advisory
TUESDAY
APRIL 16, 2002
NEW!
If you want to see photos of
recent avalanches, click here.
If you want recent archives
of this advisory, click here.
Check out our new avalanche
and backcountry observation page, CLICK HERE!
Hello this is Ethan Greene
with the
The
best place to start when making your own avalanche forecast is with the
weather. You can get up to date weather
information by listening to NOAA Weather Radio or by looking on the internet (www.wrh.noaa.gov/Saltlake). The MesoWest, a service of
the Department of Meteorology at the
Wet
avalanches are a danger every spring.
They occur when melt water runs through the snowpack and erodes the ice
bonds. Fortunately they are fairly easy
to predict. To avoid wet slides you want
to travel in avalanche terrain when the snow is still hard and frozen. During periods
of warm weather remember to start early, end early, and pay attention to the overnight
freezing levels. Remember that large wet
avalanches often release after multiple nights without a solid refreeze. A good rule of thumb is to watch the
overnight low at the Salt Lake Airport. In
general an overnight low near 40 degrees at the airport means the snow surface
has refrozen. If the low at the airport is
near 45 degrees and the skies were clear, there was probably a solid
refreeze. If the relative humidity was
high or if there was significant cloud cover then the refreeze may be marginal
and the snow will quickly become wet. If
the low was near 50 degrees then the snow surface probably didn’t refreeze
overnight.
When spring storms roll in,
the avalanche danger will rise as the new snow accumulates. Remember that more snow means more avalanches
especially when it is accompanied by wind.
If you’re in the hills after a spring snow storm, check to see how well the
new snow is sticking to the old snow surface and whether there are weak layers
within the new snow. As always be
careful around fresh wind drifts, and remember that once the sun hits the new
snow it will warm rapidly and the danger of wet sluffs will rise.
One last thing to keep in
mind is that the weak faceted snow that brought us many large and dangerous
avalanches this season is still buried in the snowpack. This layer could be reactivated by increased
melt water from a sustained warm period, or by an increase in load from a large
spring snow storm.
We have closed for the season
but the potential for avalanches will remain until the snow melts. When you’re wandering through the hills this
spring, don’t forget to look at the world through your avalanche eyes.
Even
though we are closed for the season we would still like to hear about any
avalanche activity. You can always call
and 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.
Have
and great and safe spring and summer…we will see you in the fall!
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: