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partnership with: The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Department
of Public Safety Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management, To have
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Avalanche advisory
Sunday, February 01, 2004, 7:30 am
Good
morning, this is Drew Hardesty with the
The Banff Film Festival, a benefit for the Friends
of the
Current
Conditions:
Under clear skies, mountain temperatures
have plummeted to just below zero and in the single digits. Overnight the winds remained less than 15mph
out of the northwest and remain light. Thursday’s
rain/rime
crust is supportable below 4-8” of light density snow and turning and
riding conditions are quite good on all aspects at the mid and high elevations.
Avalanche Conditions:
Sluffing in the new light density snow was fairly common on steep slopes yesterday. With very cold temperatures last night, sluffing will again be somewhat of a problem for today, and with clear skies, we may see some wet activity at the mid and low elevation southerly slopes by the afternoon. The buried faceted snow from the two weeks of high pressure in mid-January seems to be on its best behavior. But while field tests indicate that they have gained some strength and it’s plausible that in some areas the crust will have capped it off, it still feels a little spooky. Two separate reports of loud collapsing high along the Cardiff/Mineral east facing ridgeline are just enough to remind us that it’s still lurking there, presumably waiting for an additional load. Otherwise, the weakest snow seems to be just beneath the crust, where temperatures and tests suggest faceting is not far off.
Bottom
Line for the Wasatch Range, including the
The avalanche danger is moderate on north through east facing slopes above
9500’ and steeper than 38 degrees. Moderate means that human triggered
avalanches are possible. Elsewhere, the
danger is LOW. If
the winds pick up stronger and earlier than expected, avoid any new drift of
windblown snow.
Mountain Weather:
It’ll be mostly clear today with increasing clouds as a system moves by to our north. The winds will be generally light from the northwest and then increase to 15-20mph as they back down to the west southwest. 8000’ temps will be 17 degrees with 10,000’ temperatures hovering at 7 degrees. Another storm is on tap for Monday night into Tuesday that should be just a moderate producer of higher density snow. Unsettled weather is expected for the rest of the week.
For specific digital forecasts for the
General Information:
The
Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew just a lap off 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.
I will update this advisory Monday morning.
Thanks for calling.
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