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
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.
To see cool photos of recent
avalanche activity CLICK
HERE.
To see a list of recent
avalanches, CLICK
HERE. NEW
Good Morning. This is Bruce Tremper with the
Current Conditions:
Temperatures are still mighty
chilly this morning, between zero and ten degrees on the ridge tops with a 10
mph wind from the west. Yesterday the
winds blew fairly hard, around 25 mph from the west, creating some soft wind
drifts above tree line. In the past day
and a half, about six inches of new, very light density snow fell in the
Avalanche Conditions:
Today is the day we are going
to find out exactly how widespread the avalanche danger is because there will
lots of what we call “volunteer stability testers” running around in the
mountains, jumping into all kinds of slopes, playing with their new Christmas
toys. Even though it’s been more than a
week since we’ve had a significant new load of snow, we continue to see
avalanches triggered in the backcountry.
For instance, yesterday, when investigating a human triggered avalanche
that occurred a couple days ago on Sunset Peak at the head of Big Cottonwood
Canyon, some seasoned avalanche professionals ski cut the adjacent slope and
intentionally-triggered an even larger avalanche, 100 feet wide and 2-3 feet
deep. Another wise, old wizard was out
yesterday and reported that “Wherever I go I see avalanches. So the hazard is not decreasing. If anything the hazard is worse because some
of these slides are going to the ground now.”
The main problems are the
slopes which did not slide during the big storm in mid December are still
hanging in the balance waiting for the right trigger. The trouble is, that we’ve had several periods of light snow and wind
since then, so it’s impossible to tell what has already slid and what has
not. So it’s a bit of Russian roulette
today. You can cross some slopes
perfectly safely while others will fracture two feet deep with the fracture
well above you and take you on the ride of your life. The only sure way to stay safe is to either
stick to the slopes that face the south half of the compass, which are much
more stable, or if you go onto the northerly facing slopes, stay off of and out
from underneath slopes approaching 35 degrees or steeper.
Bottom Line (SLC,
The avalanche danger is still
CONSIDERABLE
today on northwest, north, northeast, and east facing slopes 35 degrees or steeper
and on steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. On southerly facing slopes and on slopes less
than 30 degrees, the avalanche danger is generally LOW.
Bottom Line: (
The avalanche danger is MODERATE today on northwest,
north, northeast, and east facing slopes 35 degrees or steeper and on steep
slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. On southerly facing slopes and on slopes less
than 30 degrees, the avalanche danger is generally LOW.
Mountain Weather:
You should probably get out
and enjoy this snow while you can because this will be the last day of cold
temperatures and fluffy snow because it’s going to warm up and blow hard before
a storm comes in on Saturday night.
Today, expect continued chilly temperatures with ridge top temperatures
5-10 degrees with light west to south winds and temperatures down at 8,000’
will be around 20 degrees. We will have
some clouds and a chance for light snow showers coming in by about mid
day. On Friday, temperatures will
dramatically warm up and strong southerly winds will begin to blow. By Saturday morning, the temperatures at
8,000’ will be above freezing with strong southerly winds. Rain should fall at lower elevations with
snow above about 8,000’. It looks like
the cold front will pass sometime around Sunday morning with snow into
Monday.
General Information:
Wasa
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.
Tom Kimbrough will update this advisory by
Thanks for calling!
________________________________________________________________________
National
Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings: