In partnership with: The Friends of the
Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Department of Public Safety Division of
Comprehensive Emergency Management,
To receive automated e-mail of these advisories, click HERE
Avalanche INFORMATION
Saturday, October 30,
2004 4:30 pm
Good
evening, this is Drew Hardesty with the
Current Conditions:
Under
partly to mostly cloudy skies today, mountain temperatures ranged from the low
30’s at 8000’ to the mid twenties along the ridgelines. The west-southwesterly winds were mostly
silent, averaging less than 10mph in most locations. The sun poked through the clouds around
lunchtime and should provide a nice breakable crust for tomorrow’s sunny
slopes. On the shaded aspects, Friday’s
rime crust seems to be more noticeable mid-canyon than on the eastern slope of
the Wasatch crest.
Avalanche Conditions
Other
than some minor wet sluffing on the sunny aspects today, we have a stable
backcountry snowpack. Along the more
exposed ridgelines, cornices are beginning to become large and sensitive and
breaking back farther than expected. Tomorrow’s
storm should bring us some cold smoke with the avalanche danger relegated to
problems only within the new snow. As
the snow starts to pile up, watch for loose snow sluffing on the steepest
slopes. As I’d expect the new snow to
bond fairly well with the old snow surfaces, any slab activity will likely be
within density breaks within the new snow.
As densities are expected to be in the 5-7% range, any slide may run
fast and far, entraining quite a bit of snow as it moves along. Fortunately, slope cuts, test slopes and
cornice drops should tell you just about all you’ll need to know for tomorrow’s
lines.
Remember,
for the most part, the unopened ski areas are not doing control work, and are
just as dangerous as the backcountry.
Bottom Line:
The
avalanche danger is LOW in most areas. Watch for a rising danger as the snow
falls. By the time 6” or more has
fallen, both the danger of loose snow avalanches as well as any steep upper
elevation slopes with recent wind drifts will have a MODERATE danger.
Mountain Weather:
A
cold Pacific storm should be on our doorstep late tonight, lasting through
Monday morning. The cold front is
expected to move through Sunday morning early, plummeting ridgetop temps to 12
degrees. 8000’ temps will be in the
mid-twenties. The northwest winds will
jump in the wee hours to 15-20mph, then drop to 10mph by tomorrow morning. Only a couple inches are expected by tomorrow
morning with the bulk of the snowfall happening Sunday. By Sunday night, the flow shifts more northerly
and we should only see some showers into Monday morning. At this point, it looks like areas favored by
a northwest flow may see up 10-16” by Monday morning.
If
you are getting out, drop us a line or an email with any reports or
observations from the backcountry. You
can leave us a message at 524-5304 or 1 800-662-4140. Email us at [email protected],
or a fax to 524-6301.
The
information in this advisory is from the US Forest Service, which is solely
responsible for its content. This
advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always
occur.
____________________________________________________________________