In
partnership with: The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Department of
Public Safety Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management,
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
2/24)
For a list of backcountry avalanche activity, visit: http://www.avalanche.org/%7Euac/Avalanche_List.htm (Updated 2/24)
Avalanche advisory
Wednesday, February 25, 2004, 7:30 am
Good
morning, this is Evelyn Lees with the
Craig Gordon will be giving a free avalanche awareness talk at UVSC tonight at 6:30pm, in room SC201A. For more information, call Kim Reynolds of the Outdoor Program at 801-863-7052.
Current Conditions:
Today may feel more like March kite flying weather than midwinter as a warm, southwesterly flow sets up ahead of the next storm system. Currently, under mostly clear skies, winds are from a westerly direction, in the 5 to 15 mph range. Temperatures are in the mid teens at 10,000 and the low 20s at 7 to 8,000. The areas of dense, settled powder are shrinking, but can still be found on sheltered, shady mid and upper elevation slopes. Elsewhere there is a sea of breakable crusts, with some wind damage on exposed ridges and slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
Yesterday, several more shallow winds slabs and sluffs were triggered on steep, shady slopes. The winds slabs averaged 6 to 12 deep, up to 40 wide, and were triggered along ridges and mid slope. They were substantial enough to be dangerous, and some were running faster than expected. This afternoon, this problem will become more widespread as a whole new batch of sensitive drifts form when the winds pick up. Cornices are becoming increasingly sensitive, breaking back further and much larger than expected, and should be given a wide berth.
The other major concern for today will be wet sluffs as the warmer temperatures combined with direct sun and thin clouds will heat up the surface snow. Both human triggered and spontaneous damp sluffs will be possible at the mid and lower elevations on all aspects, especially shady slopes, and on steep, sunny upper elevation slopes.
Bottom
Line for the Wasatch Range, including the
The avalanche
danger is MODERATE on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with old or
new drifts of wind blown snow. On other
slopes, the avalanche danger is low this morning, but the danger of wet loose sluffs will
rise to moderate on steep slopes with day time heating.
Mountain Weather:
A
very short lived ridge of high pressure will be over northern
For specific digital forecasts for the
General Information:
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides were in Cardiff and Days yesterday, and today they will have one ship in Mineral, Cardiff, Days, Silver, Porter, Alexander, Gobblers, Lambs and Grizzly Gulch drainages, with a second ship south in American Fork and Cascade Ridge.
If you are getting into the backcountry, please give us a call and let us know what youre 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 Thursday morning.
Thanks for calling.
_____________________________________________________________________________