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
Thursday,
March 06, 2003
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Good Morning. This is Evelyn Lees with the
Current Conditions:
Winter continues to blast the
northern mountains with strong winds and more snow. Storm totals are now 24 to 30 inches in the
Cottonwoods, 1 to 2 feet on the Park City side, with 1 ½ feet in the Ogden
mountains, and about a foot at 7,500 in the Provo mountains. The westerly winds picked up again last
night, and have been blowing in the 20 to 30 mph range, with gusts near
40. They are even stronger across the
highest peaks, with averages near 35 mph, and gusts near 50. Temperatures have been warming steadily over
the past 24 hours, and are in the mid teens at 10,000 and the low 20s at
8,000 which is about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday morning. Trail breaking was tough yesterday, and the
snow was almost too deep for turns, with wide skis and snowboards the tools for
the job.
Avalanche Conditions:
Yesterday, despite poor
visibility, natural, remotely triggered and human triggered slides were
reported from the backcountry. Naturals were
observed mid track on many of the southeast facing gully walls in Little
Cottonwood, in the Willows and on the east face of Reynolds in Big Cottonwood
and along the
Today, the avalanche activity
will be even more wide spread. The denser
warm and wind blown snow has overloaded the lighter snow. On moderate to steep slopes with wind drifts,
expect natural, remotely triggered and easily human triggered slides 2 to 3
feet deep, with the potential to break hundreds of feet wide. While the wind drifts will be most common on
northeast, east and southeast facing slopes, they will be found on all aspects,
well off ridgelines, and around terrain features such as gully walls and sub
ridges. Even at low elevations, isolated
pockets of wind drifted snow could be triggered in steep gullies and on
rollovers that have seen wind loading from the strong low elevations
winds. Even out of the wind affected
terrain, sluffing and new snow soft slabs up to 2 feet deep are possible on any
steep slope. It will be possible to
trigger slides from lower angle terrain today, so also wa
Once triggered, the new snow
slides could break into deeper weak layers, creating much larger and more
dangerous slides up to 5 feet deep.
These deeper slides are also possible on slopes of all aspects, and
especially on steep, rocky slopes with a thin snowpack.
Bottom Line (SLC,
The avalanche danger is a HIGH on and below any slope with recent drifts of wind blown
snow that is about 30 degrees or steeper.
HIGH means both natural and human triggered
avalanches are likely. Avalanches can be
triggered from a distance today, and avalanche runout zones should be
avoided. People with out good route
finding and avalanche skills should avoid backcountry travel today. Even in wind sheltered terrain, human
triggered avalanches are possible on steep slopes.
Bottom Line (western Uintas): While
the western Uintas received less snow, the preexisting upper elevation snow pack was shallow and very weak. Field work in the area yesterday confirms
there is a HIGH avalanche danger above timberline on, adjacent to and below steep wind
loaded slopes.
Mountain Weather:
A strong, westerly flow will
remain over the area through Friday.
Today the winds will be from the west, in the 25 to 35 mph range, with
gusts in the 40s and 50s. Skies will be mostly cloudy, with an additional 2
to 5 of denser snow possible. Highs
today will be near 30 at 8,000 and the upper teens at 10,000. Occasional snow showers
tonight and Friday, with strong west and southwest winds. The weekend looks dries and much less windy.
General Information:
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. 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: