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Cache National Forest
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Avalanche advisory
Tuesday,
March 11, 2003
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Good Morning. This is Bruce Tremper with the
Current Conditions:
With this first good blast of
spring weather, most folks in town are talking about their tulips and wearing
shorts instead of talking about the mountains.
Last night was the second night in a row where overnight temperatures
did not get below freezing at the 8,000’ elevation, although temperatures
remained in the mid 20’s along the ridge tops.
The backcountry snow conditions consist of heavily wind-damaged snow
above tree-line and wet, soggy, old powder at elevations below about 9,000’,
which is actually not too bad on wide skis or a snowboard. And believe it or not, there is still some passable,
dry powder in a narrow elevation and aspect range between about 9,000’ and 10’000’
on straight north facing slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
Yesterday was the first day
since March 1st that we have not heard about any avalanche activity
and we’ve had nearly continuous activity since February 1st. We somehow squeaked by the extremely active
avalanche cycle this past week without any fatalities, although there several
close calls including one complete burial and one partial burial. By my count, there have been over 120
unintentional human triggered avalanches this winter, which I believe is a
Reports from the deluge of
avalanches this past week continue to trickle in. Yesterday, we heard about a group of experienced
snowmobilers on Thurston and
As far as today’s avalanche
activity, the recent warm temperatures are kind of a good news-bad news
situation. The good news is that warm
temperatures settle and stabilize both the slabs and the underlying weak
layers. The bad news is that the temperatures
are so warm that we may see some wet sluffs and wet slab avalanches today. A pattern we have noticed is that three
nights with above freezing temperatures often initiate a cycle of wet slab
avalanches breaking into deeper layers of weak faceted snow. Last night was the second above-freezing
night—at least at 8,000’--and tonight will probably be the third. You may find wet activity today mostly below
about 9,000’ and on south facing slopes at all elevations.
Also, don’t forget about our
season-long problem child--dry slab avalanches breaking deeply into weak
faceted layers, which make large and dangerous avalanches. Although the deeper snowpack areas have
become much more stable, the steep, shallow, rocky areas at upper elevations
continue to be rotten underneath, especially outside the Cottonwood Canyons and
I’m still very suspicious of them.
Bottom Line (SLC,
Today, there is a MODERATE danger of both natural and human-triggered, wet
sluffs and wet slab avalanches today especially in the heat of the afternoon. You should stay off of and out from
underneath steep slopes when they get wet and soggy. Today there is also a MODERATE
danger of triggering a dry slab avalanche especially in steep above-tree-line,
shallow snowpack areas and on steep slopes with wind drifts.
Mountain Weather:
We continue in what we call a
“dirty ridge”, which means occasional clouds coming over the top of a weak
ridge. Today, expect continued very warm
temperatures with day time highs around freezing along the ridge tops and in
the mid 40’s down at 8,000’. Tonight we
should have enough scattered clouds and moisture to keep overnight lows around
freezing or above. We should have partly
cloudy skies today with mostly cloudy skies tonight.
As for the extended forecast,
we have another storm for later in the weekend with warm and windy, cloudy weather
for Friday and Saturday with the bulk of the storm arriving about Sunday
through Tuesday.
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.
Evelyn Lees will update this advisory by
Thanks for calling!
________________________________________________________________________
National Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings: