Wasatch 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:

To have this advisory automatically e-mailed to you each day free of charge, visit: http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=16351h

For photos of avalanches and avalanche phenomenon, visit: http://www.avalanche.org/%7Euac/photos_03-04.htm (Updated 2/18)

Photos sent in by observers throughout the season visit: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/obphotos/observer.html (Updated 2/20)

For a list of backcountry avalanche activity, visit: http://www.avalanche.org/%7Euac/Avalanche_List.htm (Updated 2/18)

Avalanche advisory

Saturday, February 21, 2004, 7:30 am

Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Saturday, February 21, 2004, and it’s 7:30 a.m. This forecast is brought to you in partnership with the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, supported by the Uinta Brewing Company.

Current Conditions:

A weakening weather system will move across northern Utah today and tonight, generating mostly cloudy skies and a few light snow showers. Temperatures this morning are 5 to 10 degrees warmer than yesterday - in the mid teens at most elevations in the Salt Lake and Park City mountains and the low 20’s at the mid elevations in the Ogden and Provo mountains. The winds are from the southeast, 15 to 20 mph range across the most exposed peaks, with gusts near 30. In the more sheltered terrain, the winds are less than 10 mph. In the upper Cottonwoods, which received more than 6” of snow from Thursday’s storm, snow shoeing and carving turns will be enjoyable on sheltered, shady mid and upper elevation slopes, particularly those with fewer old tracks. Most sunny slopes got crusted yesterday, and many other locations have dust on crust conditions.

Avalanche Conditions:

Yesterday’s avalanche activity was in areas that received the most snow, with both skier triggered dry sluffs and natural wet sluffs common in the steeper terrain. These loose sluffs were new snow only, about 6 to 10” deep, but running more easily, faster and further because of the good bed surface of harder snow or crusts beneath them. Backcountry travelers were also still triggering a few small, soft wind slabs, which turned to loose sluffs as they ran. On steep sunny slopes, there were some good sized natural wet sluffs, running up to 1000 vertical feet.

Today, the same sort of activity will be possible. Avoid any new wind drifts from the southerly winds, which will be most common on upper elevation northerly facing slopes. Loose snow sluffs will continue to be possible on steep, shady slopes in the areas that received more snow from the Thursday storm. These sluffs are large enough to take you for a ride, push you over a cliff, or could pile up in a terrain trap. And if there is the right combination of sun and thin clouds today, the surface snow could heat up again, on both shady and sunny slopes. Roller balls and being able to trigger damp sluffs by “pushing” the snow with your skies or board are precursors to natural wet activity.

Bottom Line for the Wasatch Range, including the Salt Lake, Park City, OGDEN and provo AREA MOUNTAINS:

In mid and upper elevation terrain, the avalanche danger is moderate on slopes approaching 40 degrees or steeper, especially those with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. If the snow heats up, watch for damp sluffs on all aspects at all elevations. In wind sheltered areas with slopes less steep than about 35 degrees, there is a low danger.

Uinta Mountains: For Uinta specific information, click on Western Uintas on the advisory page or phone 1-800-648-7433.

Logan: click HERE or call 435-797-4146

Mountain Weather:

The energy from the next series of storms will mostly affect southern Utah, with northern Utah receiving clouds and occasional light snow. Today and tonight, there will be mostly cloudy skies, with an inch or two of snow possible this afternoon and evening. Winds will remain from a southerly direction, and should decrease to around 10 mph. Temperatures will be near 30 at 8,000’ and in the upper teens at 10,000’. The next chance for a decent shot of snow looks to be Wednesday night into Thursday.

For specific digital forecasts for the Salt Lake, Provo or Ogden mountains, CLICK HERE.

General Information:

The Wasatch Powderbird Guides were in Mineral, Cardiff, Days, Grizzly Gulch, Cascade Ridge, American Fork and Snake Creek yesterday, and if weather allows will be flying in Mineral Fork, Cardiff, Days, Silver Fork, and Grizzly Gulch today.

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.

Drew Hardesty will update this advisory Sunday morning.

Thanks for calling.

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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