Wasatch Cache National Forest

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

 

The Utah Avalanche Center Home page is: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/

 

 

Avalanche advisory

 

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

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Good Morning.  This is Evelyn Lees with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory.  Today is Wednesday, March 19, 2003, and it’s 7:30 in the morning. 

 

Current Conditions:

Skies are still cloudy this morning, and in the last 24 hours the mountains have picked up an additional 1 to 3” of snow.  This brings storm totals since Friday to 20 to 34” in the Cottonwoods (with water contents approaching 2 to 3 ˝ inches), 10 to 20” on the Park City side, with less than a foot in the Ogden and Provo mountains.  Temperatures are in the mid teens this morning, and the winds are from a northerly direction, in the 10 to 20 mph range.   Yesterday’s cloudy skies preserved the powder on all aspects and at most elevations.  The turning, snowshoeing and sledding conditions are very good in settled powder over a supportable base.

 

Avalanche Conditions:

Yesterday, there were half a dozen new snow slides triggered in the backcountry, mostly with intentional ski cuts.  Three of the slides took out all the new snow since Friday, running on the crust from the warm spell.  They were 1 ˝ to 2’ deep, 60 to 125’ wide, and were on southwesterly facing slopes in Hidden Canyon and Grizzly Gulch, and in northwest facing Holy Toledo.  The other shallower slides were 8 to 10” deep and 10 to 50 feet wide, in the northeasterly facing Wilson Chutes and on northwesterly facing slopes on Gobblers. All of these slides were on wind loaded slopes steeper than 35 degrees and mostly above 9,500’.

On the Park City side, control work released similar soft slabs on steep southeast through northeast facing slopes.

 

Today you can expect to find similar, easily-triggered wind slabs on any slopes steeper than 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.  While these kinds of fresh, soft wind slabs are much more predictable and easier to deal with than deep avalanches, they can still be dangerous.  They can easily slam you into trees or bury you in a deep depression such as a gully.   Multiple slope cuts or cornice drops are good defensive techniques if you’re planning to get on to a steeper slope.  If you are in an area today where the sun breaks through the clouds for any extended time or the winds become stronger than forecast, the avalanche danger will rise on and below steep slopes.

 

Finally, there remains an isolated chance of triggering an avalanche breaking into deeply buried faceted snow on a steep slope with a shallow snowpack above 9,500’.  Also, a shallower, soft slab avalanche may step down into these deeper weak layers as it descends.

 

Bottom Line (SLC, Park City Area Mountains)

Today there is a MODERATE danger of human triggered avalanches on slopes steeper than 35 degrees with recent wind drifts.  On slopes with wind deposits more than a foot deep, the danger is CONSIDERABLE.  There is also a MODERATE danger of triggering deeper avalanches on slopes above 9,500 feet that face the north half of the compass plus east facing slopes, especially ones with a shallow snow pack.  Slopes less steep than about 35 degrees have a LOW danger. 

 

Bottom Line: (Ogden and Provo Area Mountains): MODERATE danger on steep slopes steeper than 35 degrees, especially with recent wind drifting.

 

Western Uintas – call 1-800-648-7433 or click here for weekend and holiday forecasts.

 

Mountain Weather:

The monster low now over the central plains is continuing to send moisture back westward all the way into northern Utah.  This will give the mountains mostly cloudy skies today, with scattered light snow showers.  The winds will remain light, in the 10 to 15 mph range, first from the north, then gradually shifting to the east.  Highs today will be in the low 30’s at 8,000’, and the low 20’s at 10,000’.  Weak high pressure will move into the area tonight, with the winds becoming light and shifting to the south by morning.  Lows tonight will be near 20.  A weak splitting storm will bring a chance of light snow to the mountains late Thursday into Friday.

 

General Information:

If Wasatch Powderbird Guides can fly today, they will be in the Days, Cardiff, Silver and White Pine drainages with a home run in Grizzly Gulch.  For more information call 801-742-2800.

 

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.

 

Ethan Greene will update this advisory by 7:30 on Thursday morning.

 

Thanks for calling!

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National Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.

For an explanation of avalanche danger ratings:

http://www.avalanche.org/usdanger.htm