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/
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:
A warm front is approaching
northern
Snow settlement from the
Christmas storm is close to 40%, and yesterday both trail breaking and turning
conditions were greatly improved. Today,
very wind sheltered terrain will provide the best protections from the drifting
and blowing snow, and the safest traveling conditions.
Avalanche Conditions:
There will be an increasing avalanche danger today. The strong winds have a limitless supply of
snow to drift and blow around, and I expect wind drifts one to two feet deep to
rapidly form. These sensitive drifts
will be most common on north through east facing slopes, but also look for drifts
well off the ridges and cross loaded around terrain features such as gully
walls, sub ridges and breakovers. The growing cornices could be sensitive, and
break back further than expected. The
chance for spontaneous running avalanche will increase as the day goes on, so backcountry
travelers will want to stay out from under steep slopes in addition to avoiding
any slopes with new drifts of wind blown snow.
Yesterday, explosive control work along the
Over the past few days, shallow, weak snowpack areas
in the
There are two other avalanche problems to keep in
mind. First, remember that many of the
local ice climbs, including those in
Bottom Line (
The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on recently wind-drifted slopes approaching 35 degrees and steeper. Human triggered avalanches will be probable and natural avalanches possible. Stay off of and out from under steep, wind drifted terrain. With more wind and snow in the forecast, the avalanche danger may rise to HIGH later today or tonight.
Mountain Weather:
A storm off
the west coast will push a warm front across the area today. There
will be strong, southwesterly winds today and tonight, with ridge top averages in
the 30 to 40 mph range, and gusts near 60 mph. Snowfall should begin by late morning, with
the heaviest rates this afternoon into this evening. In the next 24 hours, 8 to 14” are expected
in the
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:
If the Wasatch Powderbird Guides are able to fly today, they will have one ship in American Fork.
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.
Andrew
McLean will update this advisory on Tuesday 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