Wasatc h
Cache National
Forest
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
The Utah Avalanche
Center Home page is: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/
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Avalanche advisory
Tuesday,
January 04, 2005
Good morning, this is Brett
Kobernik with the
Current Conditions:
Yesterday the mountains
picked up a few inches of new snow and there looks to be around 3 inches of new
snow as of 5 am. Southerly winds blew yesterday
with reports of drifting snow along the ridges.
Current winds are around 20 mph from the south east with occasionally
stronger gusts. Ridgetop temperatures
are in the low 20’s.
Avalanche Conditions:
There was one human triggered
avalanche reported from backcountry skiers on Monday. This was on an east facing slope in Days Fork
at about 8600 feet on a 37 degree slope.
It was reported as 2 to 2 ½ feet deep and 100 feet wide. It was triggered by a skier on a convex break
over and ran a short distance to a flat runout zone.
There has been information
trickling in of other human triggered avalanches that have happened over the
past few days as well but failed to get reported at the time of the slides.
Also, yesterdays winds formed
some sensitive cornices that broke on their own and were also easily released
from skiers.
There will be two problems to
watch for today. The first being
sensitive cornices and wind drifts that formed yesterday on the lee side of the
ridges. The second being avalanches
breaking into loose snow that was on the surface about a week ago and is sometimes
also associated with a crust. I expect
this layer to continue to be active during this next storm cycle. Also, control work at some of the local
resorts has pulled out large avalanches that have broken into old snow from
November or possibly October. With the
various weaknesses with in the snowpack it is advisable to keep the slope
angles low. Only put one person on a
slope at a time and clear runout zones.
Bottom Line:
The current avalanche danger
is MODERATE on northwest through easterly facing
slopes approaching 35 degrees and steeper and on any steep slope with recent
deposits of wind drifted snow. This
means human triggered avalanches are possible.
The hazard will rise to Considerable during the day today and into
tonight with the additional weight of any new snow. Use caution when approaching cornices and continue
to follow safe backcountry protocol today and tomorrow!
Mountain Weather:
We’ll have mostly cloudy
skies with snow tapering off this morning then picking back up around
noon. 4-8” is expected during the
day. Winds along the ridges will be 15
to 20 mph from the southeast this morning and shifting to the southwest after
noon. 8000’ highs will be around 25 with
10,000’ temperatures about 20 degrees. Snow
should continue tonight with 5-10” expected during the evening.
A moist southwest flow should
affect the area into early next week.
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides
did not fly yesterday because of weather and if possible, will be in
Registration for
the Friends of the
Free Beacon Rescue
Training Centers are now open at Snowbird and the Canyons. For more information go to wasatchbackcountryrescue.org.
We do an early morning update
around 6am each day on the 364-1591 line.
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 Wednesday
morning.
Thanks for calling
________________________________________________________________________
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings: