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Public Safety Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management, Salt Lake County,
and Utah State Parks
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Good morning, this is Bruce
Tremper with the
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:
Well, winter has finally
arrived in the mountains. About a foot
of fairly dense graupel snow fell Friday and Saturday at upper elevations in
the Cottonwood Canyons and about midway through the storm, rain fell up to
about 9,000’. Then at
Avalanche Conditions:
This is the classic setup for
avalanche incidents and fatalities that occur nearly like clockwork each fall
in
Today, if you want to come
back alive, you should definitely avoid any slope above 9,000 feet, facing northwest,
north and northeast, of 30 degrees or steeper because that’s where the old
faceted snow existed before this storm overloaded it. I have reports from several incidents of people
who have triggered avalanches in terrain that fits this description and reports
of another half-dozen natural avalanches, some of them quite large. These reports came mostly from the Alta
area. Speaking of which, Alta will be
closed for avalanche control all day.
People always forget this time of year that slopes at resorts that
usually have moguls can and will produce life threatening avalanches because no
one is doing any avalanche control.
Remember, cross one at a time, don’t jump in on your partner and carry
the usual backcountry rescue gear like beacons, shovels and probes.
Bottom Line:
I would call it a CONSIDERABLE danger on slopes
above 9,000’ facing northwest, north and northeast approaching 35 degrees or
steeper and HIGH on these
same slopes with recent wind drifts. If
you want LOW danger
terrain, stay on slopes of 30 degrees or less, well
out from underneath steep slopes.
Mountain Weather:
Temperatures on the ridgetops have dropped into the mid teens with northwest
winds 10-20 mph. Snow should fall
throughout the day with another foot accumulating today and perhaps another
half foot tonight favored areas, such as the Cottonwood Canyons. Snow showers should linger on Monday. For the extended forecast, we expect warming
back up to freezing on Tuesday and Wednesday with warmer southwest flow and
more snow showers on Wednesday and Thursday.
General Information:
We have several free
avalanche awareness talks coming up – the first two are Tuesday, November 12th
at
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.
Evelyn Lees will update this advisory by
Thanks for calling!
________________________________________________________________________
National
Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings: