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

 

: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/

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Avalanche advisory

Wednesday, DECEMBER 3, 2003   7:30 am

 

Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory.  Today is Wednesday, December 3rd 2003, and it’s 7:30 a.m.

 

UDOT will be sighting in the 105 into Stairs Gulch in Big Cottonwood Canyon today from 9 am through about noon.  There will be short, intermittent, local road closures and definitely avoid travel in the Stairs Gulch backcountry this morning.

 

We will be giving another free Avalanche Awareness talk this Saturday, December 6th, at 7pm, at Kirkham’s, located at 3125 South State Street.

 

Current Conditions:

Skies are partly cloudy this morning, and temperatures are in the low 20’s at 10,000’.  Ridge top winds are from the southwest, and generally less than 10 mph.  Amid the widespread wind slabs and crusts, there are a few pockets where the surface snow is beginning to recrystalized, and better turns are starting to be found on wind sheltered shady slopes.  Still, turning conditions are nothing to write home about, and this may be a good week to work on holiday preparations, or, as in my case, attempt to rake up all those leaves I never got to during the November powder frenzy.

 

Avalanche Conditions:

The calm of the weather is equaled in the avalanche world, with no avalanches reported since last Friday.  The pattern of warm temperatures followed by a cooling has literally “locked” or “frozen” the snow in place.  Still, as always, there are probably a few isolated spots where a person could trigger a slide – most likely a steep, upper elevation slope, where there is an old wind slab are sitting on shallow faceted snow.

 

Bottom Line (Salt Lake, Park City, Ogden and Provo area mountains):

There is a LOW avalanche danger today, with both natural and human triggered avalanches unlikely.

 

Mountain Weather:

A weak weather system will pass to the north of us today, causing mostly cloudy skies.  Highs today will be in the mid 20’s at 10,000’ and the mid 30’s at 8,000’.  The winds will gradually shift to the northwest, and be in the 10 to 20 mph range.  Warm, mild conditions are forecast for the northern Utah mountains Thursday through Saturday as a high pressure ridge remains over the area.  The next chance for significant snow will be around Sunday as a Pacific trough moves into the west.

 

 

3-Day Table

3-Day Graph

7-Day Table

Ogden Mountains

Ogden Mountains

Ogden Mountains

SLC Mountains

SLC Mountains

SLC Mountains

Provo Mountains

Provo Mountains

Provo Mountains

 

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.

 

Sign-ups are now being taken for the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center’s 3-day classes at The Black Diamond Store (2092 E. 3900 S.; 278-0233).  The classes are being held Jan. 17-19 and Feb. 14-16.

 

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. 

 

Bruce Tremper will update this advisory on Thursday 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