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Good morning, this is Tom
Kimbrough with the
The annual backcountry gear
swap will be at REI today, November 9, starting at
We won’t have all our phone
lines hooked up until next week, so you may find it easier to access this
advisory on the internet.
Current Conditions:
I don’t have a good handle on
just how much new snow there is in the mountains this morning as not many
people got out yesterday and many of the automatic weather stations aren’t
running yet. I’ll hazard a guess at about
4 to 8 inches at 9,000 feet in the central Wasatch, with probably more in the
northern parts of the range and in the
Avalanche Conditions:
The main avalanche message is
still increasing danger today and tomorrow as this storm continues. On shady slopes above about 9,000 feet one to
two feet of old faceted snow from October provides a poor base for the fresh
deposits. In addition, the very strong
winds will be forming drifts on exposed slopes. Yesterday, one of our observers
triggered a slide in a wind drift at about 9,500 feet on a northerly facing
slope in
If there is enough snow to
turn or sled on, then there is enough snow to slide. To prove it,
The fresh snow will be
disguising many barely covered obstacles so beware of ending your season on
some rock or stump that is just under the surface.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger today is
still mostly confined to areas with old October snow: northeast, north and northwest facing slopes
above about 9,000’. In this terrain the
danger is CONSIDERABLE on
steep wind drifted slopes. The danger may
be higher and more widespread above 10,000 feet, especially in the
Mountain Weather:
Rain and snow will continue
at times today with a gradually lowering snow level, dropping to the valley by
sometime tonight. Accumulations today at
8,000 feet should be about 3 to 6 inches, with 5 to 10 likely tonight. Snowfall may continue in the mountains into
Monday. Winds will be strong from the
west today, shifting to the northwest on Sunday. Mountain temperatures will be in the twenties
today, dropping into the teens tonight.
General Information:
To report backcountry snow
and avalanche conditions, especially if you observe or trigger an avalanche,
call (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140.
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.
We have several free
avalanche awareness talks coming up – the first two are Tuesday, November 12th
at
Wasatch
Telmark’s Pray For Snow
Party is tonight, starting at
Bruce Tremper will update this advisory by
Thanks for calling!
________________________________________________________________________
National
Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings: