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
3/16)
Photos sent in by observers
throughout the season visit: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/obphotos/observer.html (Updated
3/12)
For a list of backcountry avalanche
activity, visit: http://www.avalanche.org/%7Euac/Avalanche_List.htm (Updated
3/9)
Early morning preliminary information by about 6:00 am: 801-364-1591
Avalanche advisory
Thursday, March 18, 2004, 7:30 am
Good
morning, this is
Current Conditions:
It’s hard to believe that March is traditionally the
snowiest month of the winter in the mountains. You might think the conditions are bad, but
yesterday, I ran into several World Cup competitors from
This morning might be the last morning with below freezing temperatures in the mountains for nearly the next week, so you should get out and enjoy the corn snow while you can before the big melt down this weekend. This morning, temperatures are about 5 degrees warmer than yesterday morning. The temperatures on the highest ridge tops are in the upper 20’s and around freezing at 8,000’ and the ridge top winds have calmed down to a more reasonable 10-15 mph from the west, after strong winds these past couple days. Since the snow surface looses a lot of its heat to a clear sky, it should be refrozen in most areas this morning, but it will likely turn unsupportable on the east facing slopes by about 9:00 am, on the south facing slopes by about 10:00 and on the west facing slopes by about 11:00. North facing slopes still have dry snow above about 8,500’ and the wind and sun have destroyed all the powder except for just a few pockets on the steep, upper elevation, north facing slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
The big news in the avalanche department is the huge warm up for the weekend when record setting warm temperatures will turn snow in the mountains into a soggy wet-slide-o-rama. By Sunday, the ridge top temperatures will be in the mid to upper 40’s and 8,000’ temperatures will be in the mid 50’s and lower 60’s. If that’s not enough, the winds will be almost calm, so we’re expecting a big increase in wet avalanches on almost all slopes. If you’re planning on camping out for the weekend, be sure to choose your campsite and route very carefully, and it’s probably not a good weekend for bagging a big peak. You’ll want to stay off of and out from underneath any steep slopes.
In the mean time, this morning, the snow is frozen and quite stable, but we may see a few wet sluffs in the afternoon. On the high ridges, the strong winds over the past couple days have made some minor, dry wind slabs that didn’t seem particularly sensitive yesterday, but you may be able to kick some of these off on the steep slopes above about 10,000’.
Bottom
Line for the Wasatch Range, including the
The avalanche danger is mostly low this morning.
With day time heating, the danger of wet, loose sluffs will rise to MODERATE on steep sun exposed slopes. For
the weekend, the danger of wet avalanches will dramatically rise.
Mountain Weather:
Clear and warm today with ridge top temperatures around 34 degrees with winds from the west and southwest picking up from 15 mph this morning to around 30 by afternoon. Tonight, temperatures should stay above freezing but with a clear sky, it should give the snow surface a shallow refreeze that won’t last long on Friday. On Friday and Saturday, ridge top temperatures will rise to around 43 with 8,000’ temperatures in the mid to upper 50’s. On Sunday and Monday, we should be setting records all over the state with ridge top temperatures near 48 and the 8,000’ temperatures rising into the 50’s and 60’s. For the extended forecast, temperatures will finally cool and we’ll have a chance for snow by about next Wednesday.
For specific digital forecasts for the
General Information:
This
Saturday morning between 7:00 am and about 10:00 am, the Grizzly Gulch and
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew yesterday in Snake Creek, American Fork and Cascade Ridge and today they will be in the same areas plus the Bountiful Sessions.
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.
Andrew McLean will update this advisory Friday morning.
Thanks for calling.
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