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:

        

 

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Avalanche INFORMATION

Friday, November 05, 2004 5:30 pm         

 

Good afternoon, this is Bruce Tremper with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather information.  Today is Friday, November 5nd, 2004, and it’s 5:30 pm.  We’ll be issuing intermittent afternoon bulletins into mid November.  The annual Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center ski swap will happen this Saturday, November 6th, at the Salt Lake REI on 33rd south. Gear drop off will be on tonight, from 5:30 to 8 pm. Doors will open for the swap at 9am

 

Current Conditions: 

It felt like spring today in the mountains with temperatures in the mid to upper 40’s with no wind.  The sun exposed slopes all got damp or wet and they will crust up again tonight.  There’s still some surprisingly delightful old powder and recrystalized snow on the wind and sun sheltered slopes, mostly north through east facing slopes above 9,000’.  The winds blew a little in recent days making some very localized wind slabs along the ridges.  You certainly can’t complain about the great coverage for so early in the season.  It looks like February with 4-5 feet of settled snow above 9,000’.

 

Avalanche Conditions

There’s little news in the avalanche department since we haven’t had snow since Monday and it’s been clear and sunny since.  Although there’s a few shallow wind slabs along the ridge lines, they seem old and relaxed and content to stay in place.   One other minor problem is the damp to wet snow at lower elevations is producing localized rollerballs and you can occasionally get to sluff on steep slopes in wet, slurpy, point releases.  Even including these two minor problems, the snow is mostly stable in all areas.

 

Remember, the unopened ski areas are not doing control work, and are just as dangerous as the backcountry.

 

Mountain Weather:

Looks like plenty of warm and sun through the weekend with daytime highs near 50 at 8,000’ and overnight lows around freezing.  Ridge top winds should remain light.  The old closed low in California should drift across us on Sunday night, Monday and lingering into to Tuesday.  It doesn’t look like significant precipitation but it should bring some light showers with the rain-snow line around 8,000’.  The extended forecast calls for just a weak system or two for the next week and hints at something more significant 10 or more days away.

 

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.  We’ll update this forecast about Sunday night, and 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