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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Happy Thanksgiving! This is Evelyn Lees with the
Current Conditions:
Up out of the valley
inversion, skies are clear in the mountains this morning. Temperatures are warming, and are currently in
the mid 20’s to low 30’s. Winds are
light, generally less than 10 mph, and variable in direction.
Areas of soft, recrystalized
snow exist on mid and upper elevation shady, northerly facing slopes. Elsewhere, there are widespread areas of
supportable and breakable sun and wind crusts.
The meager snowpack is limited to the mid and upper elevations, and even
there, total snow depths are only 12 to 30”.
So if you’re getting out for the first time this holiday weekend, choose
a high elevation trail head, take your rock boards and be alert for hidden obstacles. Snowshoeing would be an excellent way to
travel in the mountains today.
Avalanche Conditions:
Loose snow sluffs will be the
principal avalanche concern today. On very
steep, shady slopes the snow surface is weakening, and dry loose sluffs can be
triggered by a person. Some of these are
large enough to knock you off your feet or take you for a ride. In addition, a few cracky winds slabs may
still be sensitive to the weight of a person along the higher ridges. With such a shallow snow pack, even a short
ride could be dangerous with a multitude of rocks to hit.
The snow on the sunny slopes
will warm up today, and may produce a few wet sluffs on steep slopes, especially
near rock bands that heat up under the sun.
So if the snow gets wet and sloppy, stay off and out from under steep
sunny slopes.
Bottom Line (SLC,
The avalanche danger is
generally LOW today, isolated to loose sluffs on very steep shady and
sunny slopes and a few old wind slabs. Due to low snow conditions, the consequences
of going for a ride could be serious.
Mountain Weather:
It will be a delightful day
in the mountains, with mild temperatures and light winds. 8,000’ highs will be in the mid to upper 40’s,
and ridge top winds will remain light and variable. Skies will be clear tonight, with light
southwesterly winds and lows in the mid 20’s.
The ridge of high pressure will continue over the area through Saturday morning,
followed by a weak storm on Sunday which will bring cooler temperatures and a
chance of snow showers.
General Information:
A great Christmas present
this year for someone you love would be an avalanche beacon. If you want to know which one to buy, I’ve
posted a couple recent tests of various brands of avalanche beacons on the
web. Point your browser to 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: