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 Evelyn
Lees with the
Current Conditions:
Toss that down sweater and
the expedition mitts into your pack this morning - temperatures are a frosty 5
to 10 degrees. The northwesterly winds were
generally less than 10 mph overnight, but they are now creeping up into the 15
to 30 mph range along the more exposed ridgelines. Most areas received another 2 to 4” of fluffy
snow overnight, and 24 hour snow totals are 5 to 8” of very light density snow
from the Ogden mountains south through the Provo mountains. Turning and riding conditions will be best on
shady, wind sheltered slopes where the new snow is overlying softer old snow. Other slopes may have a more “dust on crust”
feel, but it’s still an improvement.
Avalanche Conditions:
Avalanche
problems today will be mostly confined to the new snow. As the winds pick up along the higher ridges, they
will blow the light snow into soft drifts a foot or more deep. These drifts will be sensitive to the weight of
a person on steep slopes. One natural
has just been reported this morning on a steep, southeasterly facing slope just
below 10,000’, on the
The
old snow beneath has formed a mostly stable base, but there may be isolated
areas where the weight of a person or a new snow slide could still trigger one
of the weaker deep layers. This would be
most likely on shady slopes at the higher elevations.
Bottom Line (
In upper elevation, wind
exposed terrain, there is a CONSIDERABLE
danger on steep, wind loaded slopes. On other
upper elevation steep slopes, there is MODERATE danger of
triggering a loose snow sluff. Later
today, if you’re in an area where an additional 4 to 8 inches of snow piles up
or increasing winds drift the snow, expect more widespread areas of sensitive wind
drifts and sluffing. The avalanche danger
is LOW on wind shelter slopes and on lower angle
slopes, with human trigger avalanches unlikely.
Mountain Weather:
Arctic air will pour into northern
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.
Drew
Hardesty will update this advisory Sunday 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