In partnership with: The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center, Utah Department of Public Safety Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management, Salt Lake County, and Utah State Parks
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Thursday,
December 16, 2004
Good Morning. This is
Wasatch Backcountry
Rescue will be having a fundraiser Saturday night in
A free
Current Conditions:
Ridge top temperatures have
continued to drop a few degrees over the last 24 hrs. The winds are blowing about 15 mph from the
northeast and the ridge top temperatures are in the upper teens. The mountains failed to squeeze any measurable
snow out of the clouds yesterday with only a few light flurries during the day. Mid elevation Northerly aspects still have
dense settled powder that makes for decent riding. South facing slopes actually have pretty good
supportable corn if you time it right.
Below about 8200’ on all aspects a pesky melt-freeze crust will dump you
on your head at times.
Avalanche Conditions:
We went another day without
hearing about any avalanche activity, but then again, not too many people were
out. We still have a big-old thick slab
sitting on a fragile layer of faceted snow formed during the November clear
spell. The weak layer has gained quite a
bit of strength these past few days and the colder temperatures have made the
overlying slab stiffer and stronger. So
the good news is that it’s harder to trigger avalanches but the bad news is
that if you do, it will be a monster avalanche 2-3 feet deep and quite wide,
which will be difficult to survive. In
other words, there’s a MODERATE probability of
triggering an avalanche with CONSIDERABLE
consequences. You should continue to be
selective about which slopes you decide to bet your life on. Also continue to follow safe travel ritual
such as one-at-a-time, having an escape route and use a belay rope when you
can. I’m guessing that most of the
problems will be on slopes that face the north and east quadrants of the
compass and worse at mid elevation rollovers.
Also, a moderate wind these
past couple days from the north and northeast has created some localized, fresh
wind slabs, mostly in wind exposed above tree line terrain. As always, avoid steep slopes with recent
wind drifts.
click HERE
for a generalized snow profile graphic
Bottom Line (SLC,
The avalanche danger is MODERATE with CONSIDERABLE
consequences on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, facing northwest thorough
east or slopes that have fresh drifts of wind blown snow. If you want LOW
danger today, stay on slopes less than 30 degrees and out from underneath
steeper slopes.
Mountain Weather:
It should be a pretty nice
day in the mountains with partly cloudy skies turning clear by tonight. Ridge top winds will blow 10-20 from the
northeast, switching north by tonight. Ridge top temperatures will be around 20
degrees. Down at 8,000’ the high today
should be around 30 degrees with the overnight low near 20.
As for the extended forecast,
it looks like smooth sailing for the next few days with a few high clouds on
Friday, a weak system going to the east of us on Tuesday and a
promising-looking storm for just before Christmas.
For more detailed weather
information visit the National Weather
Service web site.
Wasatch Powderbird Guides
will begin flying today and will do reconnaissance missions in Silver, Days and
Cardiff fork as well as in American Fork.
To report backcountry snow
and avalanche conditions, especially if you observe or trigger an avalanche,
call (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email to [email protected] or fax 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 by 7:30 on
Thursday morning.
Thanks for calling!
________________________________________________________________________
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings: