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 Ethan
Greene with the
***UDOT will be sighting in avalanche control weapons in
Little Cottonwood Canyon this morning from approximately
Current Conditions:
The moon and stars were out
last night, but it still didn’t get very cold.
Temperatures this morning are in the mid to upper 30’s at most locations
and elevations. The winds are generally
light, but along the upper ridgelines the wind is blowing in the 10 to 20 mph range
from the northwest.
Yesterday’s warm temperatures
produced a wet and mushy snow surface on most sun exposed slopes. Below about 8,000’ even shady slopes became
damp. Despite our lack of winter-like
weather you can still find some soft recrystalized snow on mid elevation slopes
that are sheltered from the wind and sun.
Elsewhere expect a variety of sun and wind crusts with a few rocks and
shrubs sticking out.
Avalanche Conditions:
Yesterday and today mark the
first major warming event that our young snowpack has experienced. Today temperatures will be especially warm so
be on the lookout for signs of increasing wet slide activity. There were a few point release wet avalanches
reported yesterday. These slides
occurred in rocky chutes or gullies and off of rock slabs. Keep an eye out for roller balls and if you’re
sinking into wet snow more than about 8 inches its time to stay off of and out
from under steep sun exposed slopes.
There continues to be a
slight chance of triggering a deeper hard slab avalanche on the old October
facets, and today’s warm temperatures will not help the deep slab
instability. Please continue to use
caution on steep, mid and upper elevation shady slopes.
Bottom Line (SLC and
While the avalanche danger is
generally LOW this
morning it may rise to MODERATE
on steep sun exposed slopes as temperatures increase. Pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger due to hard slab
conditions also remain on mid and upper elevation slopes. The most likely places to trigger a slide are
northwest through northeast aspects above 9,000’ and any steep wind loaded slope.
The avalanche danger is
generally LOW, but
could rise to MODERATE
due to daytime heating.
Mountain Weather:
A strong ridge of high
pressure will bring near record high temperatures to the
General Information:
For a complete list of
avalanche talks and multi-day classes, visit www.avalanche.org
and click on
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.
Tom Kimbrough will update this advisory by
Thanks for calling!
________________________________________________________________________
National
Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings: