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 3/25)

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 3/25)

 

Early morning preliminary information by about 6:00 am: 801-364-1591

 

Avalanche advisory

Friday, March 26, 2004,   7:30 am

 

Good morning, this is Andrew McLean with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory.  Today is Friday, March 26, 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 in part by Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort.

 

MID MORNING UPDATE:  11:30am

Due to unexpected large amounts of snow, the avalanche danger has risen considerably.  Backcountry travel is rapidly becoming dangerous with 8 – 12” of new snow in the Cottonwood Canyons since 6:00am.  The first pulse of the storm should pass around noon with a smaller second pulse immediately following.  The storm is expected to subside by this evening.

 

Current Conditions:

We had a trace of snow in the mountains yesterday that will hopefully serve as a starter seed for more to come today.  Strong, warm winds blew steadily out of the southwest starting around 10:00pm last night and building through this morning with gusts of over 70mph.  The bulk of the mountains remained above freezing once again, with only a few ridgetop locations and pooling valley areas dipping below 32 degrees.  As of 6:00am, it is 44 degrees and snowing in upper Little Cottonwood Canyon.  Pre-noon backcountry conditions are supportable, fast and fun, and should improve throughout the day.

 

Avalanche Conditions:

See above update.

 

Bottom Line for the Salt Lake, Park CITY, Provo, and ogden AREA MOUNTAINS:

Natural soft slab avalanches will be possible and human triggered avalanches will be probable.  A considerable danger exists on all slopes steeper than 35 degrees at the mid to upper elevations.

 

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:

A blustery Pacific front will slide along the Utah/Wyoming border today bringing 4-8” of new snow before shutting off by about 6:00pm.  This should be a warm storm, with 8,000’ temperatures barely above freezing during the day and then dropping down into the high teens by tonight.  Snowfall rates are expected to be about ˝” per hour, occasionally intensifying and favoring the northern mountains.  The strong SW winds will shift around to the northwest and then start to drop off.   The weekend will be a mixture of partly cloudy weather, lows near 20, highs near 40 and a chance of snow showers.

 

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

 

General Information:

The Wasatch Powderbird Guides did not fly yesterday and will not fly again 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. 

 

Evelyn Lees will update this advisory Saturday morning.

 

Thanks for calling.

 

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