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
To have this advisory automatically e-mailed to you each day free of charge, click HERE.
Good morning, this is Andrew
McLean with the
Current Conditions:
Yesterday’s 8,000’ temperatures remained below freezing all day, and with a cool, clear night, the new snow will remain sparkly and fresh for another round of fine turning and riding conditions. The winds were generally less than 10 mph, out of the SW with ridgetop gusts into the mid teens which only moved a bit of snow around. Today should be another holiday powder-feast, with clear skies and warmer temperatures, reaching into the lower forties, with increasing winds out of the SW. People flocked to the backcountry yesterday and if you can find fresh tracks, it should remain superb today. Shady mid to upper elevation slopes have silky powder, while south facing slopes are encrusted with an icing of melt/freeze glop on top of a crunchy base.
Avalanche Conditions:
While it was mostly quite in the backcountry
yesterday, with a few powder and
wet sluffs
being reported, one large
avalanche occurred that is worth special mention. This took place in the upper Red Pine
drainage and was triggered by a cougar, who escaped unharmed. It was 400’ across, 1 1/2 to 3 feet deep and
ran about 200’ to a gentle bench before settling into a 4 -5’ deep debris
pile. This slid on a 35 degree NE facing
slope at 10,400’ and failed on faceted crystals about 1” below the “brown
layer” from two weeks ago. It was roughly
100’ below the ridgeline and was most likely triggered in a more heavily wind
drifted area. While this might be an
anomaly, it illustrates the potential for easily triggered, powerful avalanches
to occur in isolated pockets above 9,500’ on northern aspects with windloaded drifts.
Steep, open bowls with no anchors should be approached on your best
avalanche behavior while the snowpack adjusts to this new load. Further details and photos of this avalanche
will be posted on the
Fortunately, there is still plenty of safe, stable skiing in wind sheltered areas, or on slopes less steep than 30 degrees at higher elevations.
Bottom Line (
There is a MODERATE danger of human triggered avalanches on steep, upper elevation slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow, and a LOW danger on all other aspects and elevations.
Mountain Weather:
Temperatures will continue to rise today and are currently
at a past 24 hour high as of 6:00am. It
is expected to reach into the 40’s at 8,000’ with clear skies and little to no
wind. Starting this afternoon, an upper
level high pressure system will shift to the east, bringing moderate winds from
the SW. This cold front will be preceded
by increasing winds and colder temperatures tonight with a chance of snow early
Wednesday morning. The cold, unsettled weather will persist into the weekend,
with a chance of significant snowfall late Wednesday evening and early
Christmas day.
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.
3-Day Table |
3-Day Graph |
7-Day Table |
General
Information:
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew in the American
Fork drainage yesterday and will be flying in Mineral,
If you get out early, each day we try to update our more detailed, early morning report with preliminary information by around 6:00 am at (801) 364-1591.
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.
Evelyn
Lees will update this advisory on Wednesday 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