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

TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2002 

 

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Hello this the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center.  The avalanche center has closed its doors and we have stopped issuing avalanche advisories for the season.  That doesn’t mean that there are no more avalanches in the mountains, but that the money has run out and most of the staff are preparing to depart for their summer jobs.  If you are headed into the backcountry for a spring tour you still need to think about avalanches.  Here are a few things you can think about in order to stay safe. 

 

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 University of Utah, is a great place to find out what the weather conditions are throughout the Wasatch Range.  In the Wasatch Range in spring you usually have to deal with one of two different kinds of avalanche problems, wet snow or new snow.

 

Wet Avalanches:

Wet avalanches occur every spring when melt water runs through the snowpack and erodes the ice bonds in buried weak layers.  Fortunately they are usually easy to predict.  To avoid wet slides, 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 temperatures.  Remember that large wet avalanches often release after multiple nights without a solid refreeze.   In radical terrain such as the steep rock slabs in Stairs Gulch and Broad’s Fork, large, wet slabs can come down almost any time during warm conditions.   

 

Before you head out, it’s best to get on the Internet to check the temperatures in the mountains.  Unfortunately, most of the automated weather stations in the mountains are operated by the ski areas, and once they close, they also take down their weather stations.  Snowbird stays open usually into May and Logan Peak, near Logan, usually operates all year.  Without the automated mountain stations, 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.

 

Finally, 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, especially on upper elevation, north facing slopes.

 

 

New snow:

When spring storms roll in, avalanches often occur within the new snow, especially on steep slopes with recent wind drifts.  If you’re in the mountains 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.  You can easily do this by digging down with your hand or jumping on small test slopes.  As always be careful around fresh wind drifts, and remember that once the sun or warm temperatures hit the new snow, the danger of wet sluffs will suddenly rise.

 

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!

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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