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
Utah Avalanche Center
Home page is: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/
Avalanche advisory
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Good morning, this is Evelyn
Lees with the
***UDOT will be sighting in avalanche control weapons in
Little Cottonwood Canyon tomorrow, Thursday, from approximately
Current Conditions:
Under clear skies, temperatures
are mild this morning – ranging from the mid twenties to low 30’s. Winds are from the northwest, averaging 10 to
20 mph along the exposed ridges.
Decent turns can be found in
recrystalized powder on the classic shady, wind sheltered mid elevation slopes. The serious limitation is the shallow snow
depth – I’ve been hitting rocks with discouraging frequency the past week and
the bottoms of my skis are grooved from tip to tail. Open slopes and bowls are wind damaged with
patchy hard wind slabs and the sun exposed slopes are well crusted.
Avalanche Conditions:
With no significant
precipitation in over a week, the snow pack is mostly stable. Still, as always, there are a few places
where a person could trigger a slide on steep slopes.
There continues to be a
slight chance of triggering one of the deeper hard slabs on the old October
facets on steep, upper elevation shady slopes.
On these same slopes, sluffs in the weakening surface snow are getting
larger – if caught unaware, you could be knocked off your feet and taken for a
ride. And finally, it may be possible to
trigger one of the shallow, hard wind slabs. With any sort of ride this time of
year, there is a high probability of hitting rocks.
Bottom Line (SLC and
While the avalanche danger is
generally LOW, there
are a few pockets of MODERATE
danger on slopes of 35 degrees and steeper.
The most likely slopes where a person could trigger a slide include the
northwest, north and northeast facing slopes above 9,000’ and any steep slope
with drifts of wind blown snow.
The avalanche danger is
generally LOW. But as usual, avoid any steep slopes with
recent or old drifts of wind blown snow.
Mountain Weather:
Strong high pressure will dominate
the weather over the western states through Thursday. Mostly sunny and mild today, with 8,000’
highs in low to mid 40’s. The moderate
northerly winds may reach 25 mph averages along the higher ridges. Temperatures will drop into the low 20’s tonight
under clear skies. Then it will be down
right toasty on Thursday, with 8,000’ highs near 50 under sunny skies.
General Information:
For a complete list of
avalanche talks and multi-day classes, visit www.avalanche.org
and click on
Craig Gordon will be giving
an avalanche talk at Utah Valley State College on Wednesday night 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, or email to [email protected] or fax 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.
Ethan Greene will update this advisory by
Thanks for calling!
________________________________________________________________________
National
Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings: