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 Tom Kimbrough with the
Current Conditions:
More stormy weather is headed
our way this morning. Although it looks
like the major thrust of the current storm will miss the Wasa
Avalanche Conditions:
Again yesterday there were
plenty of avalanches, both from control work and human triggered. The layer these slides are releasing on is
called faceted snow. It was formed
during the long dry spell and produces notoriously long lasting and persistent
instabilities. As we go into the
weekend, don’t expect the backcountry conditions to get safer and indeed, with
today’s wind and new snow, we will bump right back up to HIGH danger in some
areas. There were many reports of
widespread cracking and collapsing in the backcountry yesterday plus quite a
few remotely triggered slides and a couple of people caught but not completely
buried or hurt. A party on the north
side of the ridge above Pole Line Pass between Big and Little Cottonwood
remotely triggered a slide that ran over a couple of guys on the opposite side
of the ridge.
The one saving grace to our
situation is that many slopes avalanched naturally during the storm but, as
usual, there are a couple of ca
Another tip is that southerly
facing slopes have had little or no avalanche activity because areas that were
largely bare a week ago don’t have the underlying weak layers. The ca
There have been plenty of
slides on shady, mid and lower elevation slopes, where the weak facets were
well preserved in wind sheltered areas.
These slides are generally smaller in width, but still 1-2 feet deep,
and large enough to get a person in trouble, especially if the snow piles up in
a terrain trap such as a gully bottom or road cut. In all areas, collapsing and cracking are
clues to the instability.
I am getting reports
indicating that this morning’s winds are getting down into mid and lower elevation terrain as well as along the
high peaks and ridges. With literally
tons of light snow lying around, these winds will quickly increase the
avalanche danger on all wind affected steep slopes.
Bottom Line (SLC, Park City, Ogden and Provo Area
Mountains):
The avalanche danger is HIGH today on all steep slopes
with wind drifted snow. Out of wind
affected terrain the danger is CONSIDERABLE
on west, north and east facing slopes above about 7,000’. Human triggered avalanches are probable, and
natural avalanches are possible.
Mountain Weather:
Although this doesn’t look
like another big storm the Wasatch should still get several inches of new snow
today. Winds will be strong, 20 to 30
mph with stronger gusts through mid day, decreasing this afternoon. Highs today will be in the lower twenties at
8,000 feet and in the teens at 10,000.
The weather will continue unsettled through the weekend with additional
snow and wind likely.
General Information:
The Friends of the
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.
Bruce Tremper will update this advisory by
Thanks for calling!
________________________________________________________________________
National
Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings: