Wasatc h
Cache National
Forest
In partnership with: The Friends of the Utah Avalanche 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
Saturday, DECEMBER
6, 2003 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with the
Current Conditions:
It’s a blustery morning, with the southwesterly winds averaging 20 to 30 mph across the ridges, with gusts 30 to 50. Temperatures are in the upper 30’s at 8,000’ and the low 30’s at 10,000’. Skies are mostly cloudy this morning, and a few areas received a trace of precipitation overnight. Amid the sea of crusts, there was definitely some good turning conditions on shady, wind sheltered slopes yesterday, in a few inches of recrystalized snow. Unfortunately, today’s winds may be shrinking these areas of better turning.
Avalanche Conditions:
The
greatest avalanche concern today will be the formation of new drifts of wind
blown snow. While I expect these new
wind slabs to be mostly shallow and pockety, some will definitely be large enough
to knock you off your feet if they crack out beneath you on a steep slope. With the strong wind speeds, watch for these
drifts well off the ridgelines, in addition to along the higher ridges.
By
tomorrow morning, look for a rising avalanche danger. There is a wide variety of surface snow conditions
throughout the range, including areas of slick crusts and of weak,
recrystalized snow. I expect poor
bonding of the new snow to many of these old snow surfaces, especially at the
higher elevations.
Bottom Line (
The avalanche danger MODERATE on any steep slope with recent deposits of wind
drifted snow. Out of the steep, wind affected
terrain, the avalanche danger is generally LOW. There will be a rising avalanche danger during
the next 24 to 48 hours.
Mountain Weather:
I’ve got my fingers crossed that the approaching storm will give us the
much desired big shot of snow. For today
and tonight, we will be under a mild and moist southwest flow. High temperatures today will be in the mid 30’s
at 8,000’, and cool slightly into the upper 20’s at 10,000’. There will be periods of light snow and rain
today, with the rain/snow line around 8,000’.
Precipitation will increase tonight, with 3 to 6” possible by
morning. The winds will remain strong
from the southwest. The cold front should
arrive mid-morning Sunday, dropping the snow level to the valley floor. 5 – 10” of snow is likely on Sunday. And if we’re really lucky, significant
additional snow fall is possible Sunday night into Monday morning for areas
favored by northwest flow.
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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
Friends of the
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 on 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