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Good Morning. This is Evelyn Lees with the
Current Conditions:
The January thaw is over. Ridge top temperatures are 10 degrees cooler
than yesterday morning, with most stations reading in the mid 20s this
morning. The westerly winds are light,
less than 15 mph, except across the highest peaks where they are in the 20 mph
range. Some areas of soft, recrystalized
powder exist on sheltered shady slopes at the mid and upper elevations, surrounded
by a sea of wind and sun damaged snow. There
are a few reports of decent turns on supportable crusts as they softened.
Avalanche Conditions:
Since significant snowfall ended
on
No mater how unstable the
snow pack is, at some point the slabs start to strengthen and/or the facets
slowly adjust to the weight on them. But
while the places where a person could trigger a slide are slowly decreasing, the
consequences of getting caught in a slide remain just as dangerous meaning potentially
fatal. Over time, the slides have not been
getting any smaller, just harder to trigger.
The strengthening slabs may let you get far out onto the slope before releasing
well above you. Or the slabs may hold in
place for the first skiers or riders, and then be released by a later person
who hits a more sensitive trigger point or the steepest point of the slope.
These current complex conditions
make it very difficult to assess and evaluate the stability for a specific, individual
slope. The very experienced backcountry
travelers and avalanche professionals are in agreement that the steep, shady
slopes are not the places to ski or board. You just do not want to be caught in one of
these ugly slides. There are decent
turning conditions on shady, low and moderate angle slopes in the weakening
surface snow, and ridges are also a great way to cruise around in the
backcountry.
Bottom Line (SLC,
In general the avalanche
danger is MODERATE
on slopes facing northwest, north, northeast and east, above about 8,500 and
about 35 degrees or steeper. However,
within this terrain, there are pockets of CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger, where human
triggered avalanches are probable, especially on slopes that have not slid
recently. This means that you should
probably stay off of slopes like these since stability evaluation is difficult. LOW avalanche danger exists on slopes less steep than 30 degrees,
which are not connected to steeper slopes above and on the southerly facing
slopes.
Mountain Weather:
The high pressure over us
will continue to weaken today as a minor disturbance approaches. Cooler
temperatures today, with highs in the mid 20s at 10,000 and in the mid to
upper 30s at 8,000. The winds will be
from the west to southwest, less than 15 mph, except along the highest ridges where
they will be in the 15 to 25 mph range. Increasing
clouds this afternoon, with light snow starting after
General Information:
Wasa
The Friends of the Utah
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: