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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
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 7:30 am
Good morning,
this is Andrew McLean with the
For photos
of avalanches and avalanche phenomenon, click HERE.
Photos sent in by observers throughout the season
click HERE.
For a list of backcountry avalanche activity, click HERE.
Current Conditions:
After a calm, clear night, it looks like today will be a repeat of yesterday, complete with the smog and cooler temperatures in the valleys. If you need some inversion therapy, the mountains will be clear and sunny, with temperatures in the low 40’s during the day and a light breeze out of the northwest. The 8,000’ overnight lows were down to the mid 20’s with a light SW breeze. Turning and riding conditions currently range from dwindling pockets of tired powder to an early harvest of corn snow on the sunny exposures.
Avalanche Conditions:
During this current spate of warm weather, wet avalanches are the main concern. These can take the form of point releases on steep, sun exposed slopes, or glide avalanches in areas with smooth underlying rocks or grassy slopes. The point releases are most likely to occur just below rock outcropping on steep, sunny slopes, especially at lower elevations. They are often preceded by pinwheels or roller balls and are most active during the warmest part of the day.
With glide avalanches, it’s much harder to predict exactly when they will occur. These tend to be thicker slabs of deep, homogenous snow that fail to their full depth and produce large debris piles. If you are in an area where large horizontal cracks are developing in the snowpack, give the run-out zones a wide berth and avoid areas with known smooth underlying ground features.
During this period of warm weather, the basic rules of springtime mountain travel will apply, including getting earlier starts, staying out of terrain traps and keeping an eye and ear out for grumbling snow coming down from above.
Bottom Line for the Wasatch Range, including
the
The danger is low today and human triggered avalanches will be unlikely. During the heat of the day, the danger of wet slides will increase to moderate as the snowpack warms up.
Mountain Weather:
High pressure continues to be the main event for today and clear, sunny weather will persist. At 8,000’, temperatures will be in the low 40’s during the day then drop down into the low 20’s at night with light winds out of the NW. This pattern is expected to continue through Wednesday, with Thursday night possibly providing a break in the high pressure holding pattern, with a slight chance of snow, or at least some partly cloudy weather.
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.
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3-Day Table |
3-Day Graph |
7-Day Table |
General Information:
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew in American Fork
yesterday and today will be in the Northern Powder Circuit, including Day’s,
Silver,
You are invited to see the new film "Spirit of
Snow" a beautiful film about backcountry skiing as seen through the eyes
of a 10th Mountain Division veteran. Donations
requested at the door.
Location:
Time:
7pm - Wednesday, January 21, 2004
For
more info - Wasatch Touring - 801/359-9361
The Friends of the
On a historic note, Governor Olene Walkier signed the proclamation for Backcountry Awareness Week yesterday at the State Capital building. This will take place January 19-25th and there are a number of events and presentations. For complete details, visit: www.backcountryawareness.com
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.
Thanks for calling.
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