In partnership with: The Friends of the
Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Department of Public Safety Division of
Comprehensive Emergency Management,
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Avalanche INFORMATION
Saturday, November 27,
2004 7:30 Am
Good
morning, this is Drew Hardesty with the
There are two upcoming
benefits for our partners The Friends of the
Current Conditions:
A
strong Pacific storm system that’s currently on our doorstep is primed to
produce significant snowfall through tomorrow.
The first few flakes have already started to fall in the mountains. Overnight the winds decreased to less than 15
mph as they backed to the southwest, advecting warm
air that has slowly increased temperatures into the mid-teens and low twenties
along the ridgelines and at the mid-elevations. Riding conditions are good from the 6-12”
that fell Thursday night.
Avalanche Conditions:
The
honeymoon’s over. We’ve had a month and
a half of either Low or ‘manageable’ avalanche conditions, but that’s
history. Thursday night’s snow coupled
with Friday’s winds produced numerous human triggered avalanches and a few
naturals, the most notable in the tri-canyons reportedly being the south face
of Tri-county peak, reportedly 1-3’ deep and 300’ wide. Collapsing of the new load onto the newly
buried weak layers often triggered avalanches ‘remotely’ up to a couple hundred
feet away, which would often trigger adjacent slopes. Most were 8-16” deep and 50-200’ wide, with
some up to 2-3’ in heavily drifted areas.
These were generally localized to steep north through southeast facing
upper elevation areas that picked up the most snow or were more prone to
drifting throughout the day. We just
didn’t have enough of a punch to create widespread avalanching, but with a foot
of new snow forecast for this afternoon and tonight and another foot by
tomorrow morning, things should start to come unglued.
For
today, avalanche conditions will remain tricky.
While I don’t expect any natural activity, I would expect lingering
instabilities that should still allow for human triggered avalanches and a
continued pattern of remotely triggered slides.
Collapsing and cracking in the snow should tell the tale, and cornice
dropping will give some indications as well.
As a last tip, with remote and sympathetically triggered slides, rethink
your ‘safe’ zones at the bottom of the hill where there might be multiple
starting zones for avalanches.
Bottom Line:
There
is a MODERATE danger on any steep slope with recent
wind drifts. This means human triggered
avalanches will still be possible. The
danger will be most pronounced on mid to upper elevation north through
southeast slopes. As the snow starts
piling up, the danger will rise to CONSIDERABLE.
Mountain Weather:
A
strong upper level trof should produce significant
snowfall through tomorrow afternoon.
We’re starting to see the first few flakes coming in on a southwest flow
this morning and the
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 send 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.
I
will update this advisory by 7:30 Sunday morning, and thanks for calling.
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