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
To have this advisory automatically e-mailed to you each day free of charge, click HERE.
Good morning, this is
Current Conditions:
Good news! After a few days reprieve,
winter weather has kicked back in, with snow falling and temperatures dropping in
the
Avalanche Conditions:
These
weather conditions have rapidly stabilized the snowpack from just a few days
ago and it is now well cemented in place.
No avalanches have been reported in the last two days and yesterday there
were no signs of instability in the backcountry. The buried weak layers of a few days ago are well
bonded in most places, although it still might be possible to trigger an
avalanche on higher elevation, wind loaded slopes. Avoid large cornices and thick looking
pillows of snow just below the ridgelines.
If this storm delivers more snow and wind than expected, the avalanche
hazard will increase. As the old snow surface
is warm, in theory, the new snow should bond well to it.
Bottom Line (
The danger is LOW in most areas, with human trigger avalanches unlikely. On isolated, steep slopes with recent
deposits of wind drifted snow, there is MODERATE danger. With new snow falling and more expected in
the next 24 hours, the danger will rise accordingly.
Mountain Weather:
Snowfall
has settled in for today, but the big, wet storm that was anticipated for this
weekend has broken into a series of smaller, colder storms that will be spread
out until Tuesday. Temperatures will
start to drop dramatically today with single digit lows expected by this
evening. Throughout the day, 2-3 inches
of snow will fall with a light wind that will shift from the SW to the West. Ridgetops will have high,
gusty winds and a chance of lightning strikes.
There will be a slight break in the storm, and then on Saturday, snow squalls
and 4-6 inches of snow are expected with some possible Lake Effect
enhancements.
3-Day Table |
3-Day Graph |
7-Day Table |
For specific digital forecasts for selected mountain areas from the
National Weather Service, click the links below or choose your own specific
location at the National
Weather Service Digital Forecast Page:
General
Information:
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.
Evelyn
Lees 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