Wasatc h
Cache National Forest
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Avalanche advisory
Sunday,
February 23, 2003
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Good Morning. This is Ethan Greene with the
Current Conditions:
A cold front brought wind,
snow, and lightning to the mountains yesterday.
Overnight 2 to 4 inches of snow fell in the
Avalanche Conditions:
Yesterday was a blustery day
in the mountains. So far storm totals
are 12 to 15 inches of snow and an inch to 1.25” of water in the
There were several reports of
sensitive wind slabs from both avalanche control workers and backcountry travelers. These avalanches released at the bottom of
the new snow layer and were about a foot deep and up to 50’ wide. The exceptions were two avalanches intentionally
triggered by an avalanche class in
The main avalanche concern
for today will be these fresh wind drifts.
The winds have been from the northwest and west but they have been
strong and swirlly.
Lookout for recent wind drifts on all aspects, and remember strong winds
tend to build wind pillows lower in slide paths and along the sides of gullies
and subridges.
Yesterday’s snow was full of
graupel, and these Styrofoam like balls of snow can roll down the hill and pool
in gentler terrain. Today is a good day
to poke around and see if slabs are building on these new graupel pools. There is also a weak layer near an ice crust formed
about 10 days ago on west through north aspects and wind slab avalanche could
step down onto this layer. Lastly remember
that the thin snowpack areas remain quite weak.
Without wind loading we just put another inch of water on top, so the
chances of triggering a deep slab have increased.
Bottom Line (SLC,
The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on steep
slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. There is also a MODERATE or localized danger of triggering an
avalanche into deeper weak layers on slopes that face northwest, north,
northeast and east, steeper than about 35 degrees and that are above about
9,000 feet.
Mountain Weather:
A moist northwest flow with a
few embedded short waves kept the snow falling in the mountains overnight. The remnants of this last system combined
with an Artic Front moving in from the north this afternoon will maintain
unsettled weather over the Wasa
General Information:
Weather permitting,
Wasa
To report backcountry snow
and avalanche conditions, especially if you observe or trigger an avalanche,
please leave a message on our answer machine at (801) 524-5304 or
1-800-662-4140, or email to [email protected]
or fax to 801-524-6301. Your information
could save someone’s life. 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.
I will update this advisory by
Thanks for calling!
________________________________________________________________________
National
Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings: