In partnership with: The Friends of the Utah
Avalanche Center, Utah Department of Public Safety Division of Comprehensive
Emergency Management,
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Avalanche advisory
Tuesday, January 27, 2004, 7:30 am
Good
morning, this is Andrew McLean with the
Current
Conditions:
We had a break in the storm cycle yesterday
with only a trace of new snow being reported in scattered areas. Last night was calm, clear and cold, with the
8,000’ lows dipping down into the single and even negative digits. Today will start out clear and sunny and then
deteriorate in the afternoon ahead of a weak Pacific storm that should arrive
tonight. Winds will build throughout the
day, becoming strong from the west by this evening. Turning and
riding conditions in the settled powder are above average, with trail breaking
being a chore in wind drifted areas.
Avalanche Conditions:
Although we are out of the natural avalanche activity cycle, human triggered slides will be quite possible to trigger today. Almost all reports from the backcountry yesterday observed some cracking and collapsing in recent deposits of wind drifted snow, especially at higher elevations and on east facing slopes.
We currently have a tricky pattern of instabilities in the mountains. Our last storm came in cold with strong winds from the north, which is slightly unusual for the Wasatch mountains. It then fell on a variety of old snow surfaces with varying degrees of bonding. To add to the puzzle, in popular areas that had been tracked up before the storm, the weak recrystalized powder had been broken up enough to facilitate a good bond with the new snow, whereas untracked areas are still touchy. These areas are now covered up and unless you are intimately familiar the terrain and traffic patterns, it will be hard to distinguish them. In lower elevation areas, there was wide spread activity on the buried surface hoar, which so far seems to be of small consequence due less snow falling at those elevations. Test pit results vary widely and cornices stomps range from easy to impossible, but are generally not producing results
All of this means that it is still a good time to be on guard while traveling in the mountains. You will want to continue to carefully watch your slope angles, avoid recent deposits of wind drifted snow and stay out of terrain traps. The cold temperatures mean there is plenty of good powder on sheltered, lower angle slopes. If you avoid the extreme ends of either high or low elevations and stick to the mid elevations, the snow will be more stable.
A major contributor to this current state of stability is that the new snow has just barely added enough weight to get things moving. With this afternoons expected new snow and increasing winds, it might be enough to tip the scales.
Bottom
Line for the Wasatch Range, including the
On slopes steeper than 35 degrees with recent
deposits of wind drifted snow, especially at upper elevations and in steep
lower elevation terrain, the avalanche danger is moderate
and may rise to considerable with
increasing wind and snow. On mid elevation, sheltered slopes less steep
than 35 degrees, the danger is low.
Mountain Weather:
Starting
out clear and cold this morning, the daytime highs are expected to be around 20
degrees in the mountains with strong ridgetop winds out of the west. This will change mid day, as a weak Pacific
storm moves in from
For specific digital forecasts for the
General Information:
The
Wasatch Powderbird Guides did not fly yesterday and today they will be in
American Fork, Mineral,
The Banff Film Festival, a benefit for the Friends
of the
The Friends of the
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.
Evelyn Lees will update this advisory Wednesday morning.
Thanks for calling.
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