Wasatc h
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
If you want this advisory
automatically e-mailed to you each day, click HERE.
If you want recent archives
of this advisory, click HERE.
To e-mail us an observation, CLICK HERE.
Good Morning. This is Evelyn Lees with the
The Utah Department of Transportation will be testing
their artillery in the Storm Mountain/Stairs Gulch Area today, December 13,
around
Current Conditions:
Contrary to its reputation,
Friday the 13th is dawning clear and bright, and I’m optimistic that
it will be a safe day for all. Up in the
mountains, wind speeds have started to increase, and are now averaging 15 to 20
mph from the west, with gusts near 25 across the higher ridges and peaks. Temperatures are in the in the upper teens to
mid 20’s this morning.
Snow totals ended up in the 2
to 5 inch range, and the snow is capped with a thin rime crust. The rime crust has been observed in the
Avalanche Conditions:
With only 2 to 5 inches of
new snow in the backcountry, the avalanche danger has not increased very
much. Westerly winds created a few wind
drifts in upper elevation areas, which are sitting on a variety of hard crusts
and weak surface snow. Yesterday, I
found these shallow wind deposits to be stubborn and mostly stable – they were
cracking but didn’t want to move. Areas
of wind drifted snow may become more widespread or deeper this afternoon as the
westerly winds increase, so approach any steep wind drifted slope with caution.
The new snow and rime crust
have successfully covered and preserved the near surface facets and surface
hoar deposits, and we will be keeping close track of this buried weak
layer. There is a chance that strong
winds and warmer temperatures ahead of the next larger storm may be able to
erode down and destroy this weak layer in some areas.
Bottom Line (SLC,
The avalanche danger remains
generally LOW in the
Mountain Weather:
A rather weak Pacific trough moving
across northern Utah this afternoon will bring increasing clouds today with a
chance of very light snow showers. The
westerly winds will pick up this afternoon, averaging 15 to 25 mph across the
ridges. Highs today will be in the mid
30’s at 8,000’ and the mid 20’s at 10,000’.
On Saturday, moderate to strong southwest winds will develop ahead of
the next storm system. The series of
progressively stronger storm systems rolling across the region Sunday through
Wednesday could give us significant accumulations of snow by the middle of next
week.
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, 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: