Wasatc h
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
: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/
Avalanche advisory
FRIDAY. November
7, 2003 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Evelyn
Lees with the
Current Conditions:
Under clear skies,
temperatures this morning have cooled into the teens at most elevations. Winds are light, less than 15 mph, out of the
southwest. Turning conditions continue
to be excellent in recrystalized powder on most shady slopes above about 8500’. The sunny slopes became crusted yesterday, as
did slopes of all aspects below about 8500’. With total snow depths averaging only about 2’,
clipping rocks is not an uncommon occurrence.
So areas underlain by grassy slopes are the best choice for turns. Snow machiners will still want to stay on roads
or smooth trails.
Avalanche Conditions:
Sluffing of the surface snow
is the greatest concern today. Another
cold, clear night has continued to weaken the surface snow, and it will be
possible to push some decent size sluffs on steep slopes. While these are not large enough to bury a
person, they could knock you off your feet.
Even a short ride could have you hitting the shallowly buried rocks. Winds should remain light through out the
day. But if the winds do pick up, shallow,
soft wind drifts will develop in the more exposed areas and could be triggered
on steep slopes.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger is LOW
today. However, if you’re traveling on steep
slopes, expect loose snow sluffs and avoid any fresh drifts of wind blown snow.
Mountain Weather:
Skies will be mostly sunny this morning, with the high thin clouds
thickening this afternoon. Highs today will
be in the low 30’s at 8000’, and the mid 20’s at 10,000. Winds will remain from the southwest, in the
10 to 15 mph range. Skies will be mostly
cloudy tonight, with a chance for a few inches of snow. Lows will be near 20. Saturday will be partly cloudy, and remain
cool, with highs in the mid 20’s to mid thirties. A series of weak disturbances will move
across the area Saturday night through Tuesday, with a chance for a few inches
of snow each day or night.
General
Information:
Don’t miss the annual ski swap at REI tomorrow put on by the Friends of
the
If
you are getting into the backcountry, please give us a call and let us know
what you’re seeing, especially if you trigger an avalanche. You can leave a message at 524-5304 or
1-800-662-4140. Or you can e-mail an
observation to uac@avalanche .org, or you can fax an
observation 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.
I
will update this advisory Saturday morning.
Thanks
for calling!
_____________________________________________________________________________
For more detailed weather
information go to our Mountain Weather Advisory
National
Weather Service - Salt Lake City - Snow.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings:
http://www.avalanche.org/usdanger.htm