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
To receive automated
e-mails of this advisory click HERE.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Good
morning, this is Drew Hardesty with the
UDOT WILL DO CONTROL
WORK IN
Current Conditions:
Overnight
the central Wasatch picked up another 4-6” of graupel and dense snow and it’s
still snowing. Since Friday night, storm
totals are 20-30” and nearly 5” of water.
The winds have let up slightly from the west southwest as most
anemometers are reading 15-20 mph with more exposed anemometers still humming
along at 30mph, gusting to 40. Temps
continue their 48 hour upward march and are near 30 at 10,000’. Rain snow lines seem to have been fluctuating
between 7000’ and 8000’.
Avalanche Conditions:
No new
avalanches were reported from the backcountry yesterday, although I suspect
more folks were watching football or working on taxes. More reports of naturals from Saturday are
trickling in and I’ll have our avalanche list
updated by 10am.
The snow
and water amounts keep adding up and I think we may be at the breaking point
soon in areas that have received and continue to receive the most, such as the
Cottonwoods,
With rain
snow lines hovering around 8000’ or so, wet sluff activity is likely at the
lower elevations and ice climbing should be avoided for at least another day or
so.
Bottom Line:
The
current avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE and
may rise to HIGH today on and below any steep slope at the mid and
upper elevations. Natural avalanches
will be possible today and any slide triggered will have the potential to be
large and extremely dangerous.
Bottom Line for the Provo
Mountains: As the Provo mountains appear
to have picked up another 2-3” of water weight in the last 24 hours,the danger
on mid and upper elevation steep slopes is HIGH. Avoid being on and under steep slopes.
Mountain Weather:
Snowfall
should continue throughout the day with 6-8” of snow expected. Winds should continue from the west southwest
averaging 20-25mph. 8000’ highs will be in
the mid-thirties 10,000’ temps in the upper twenties.
If you’re
getting out and see anything we should know about, remember we can’t be everywhere
at once. We depend on people just like
you. Please leave a message on our
answer machine at: 524-5304 or
1-800-662-4140, or fax to 801-524-6301, or email to [email protected]
There are a few spots left in the Friends of the
Snowbird is hosting its 2nd annual Backcountry Avalanche
Awareness Week January 31 – February 7th as a benefit for the
We do an
early morning update around 6am each day on the 364-1591 line.
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.
Brett Kobernik will
update this advisory by 7:30 on Tuesday morning.
Thanks for calling
________________________________________________________________________
For an
explanation of avalanche danger ratings: