Wasatch 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 11, 2005

 

Good morning, this Brett Kobernik with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory.  Today is Tuesday, January 11, 2005, and it’s 7:30 in the morning.

 

An Avalanche Warning remains in effect for the mountains of northern Utah

 

AMERICAN FORK CANYON IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.  UDOT WILL BE DOING CONTROL WORK IN STAIRS, ARGENTA AND KESSLER SO EXPECT MINOR DELAYS IN BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON BETWEEN 10 AND NOON.  UDOT ALSO HAS A NEW ROAD AND AVALANCHE HOTLINE FOR THE COTTONWOODS: 975-4838.

 

Current Conditions:

Well it hasn’t quite been 40 days and 40 nights, but it seems like it.  It’s been now 16 days with snow, wind and clouds and it’s piled up a heavy load of new snow.  In the last 24 hours another foot of snow fell in most of the mountains of northern Utah with about an inch and a half of water weight.  The upper end of Big Cottonwood received about 2 ½ inches of water weight.  Timpanogos got walloped with another 3” of water for the second day in a row. 

 

Yesterday, the ridge top winds blew 20, gusting to 40 from the south and west and this morning they are blowing 10-15 from the southwest.  Currently we have cloudy skies with snow falling.  10,000’ temperatures are in the mid 20’s and 8,000’ temperatures are around 30. 

 

Avalanche Conditions:

Yesterday, avalanche control teams released numerous very large and dangerous avalanches.  Some seasoned professionals reported that these ran as big as they can remember.  Many fracture lines measured 6 feet in depth.  Yesterday the Provo area mountains took the brunt of the precipitation and not surprisingly came unglued with large, natural avalanches running in most of the visible avalanche paths. 

 

So in other words, it’s pretty simple.  It’s still hitting the fan out there and you should stay out of the backcountry.  We have buried weak layers and they are creaking and groaning under all this new weight.  Traditional backcountry stability tests won’t do you much good in these conditions.  As our lead backcountry observer often comments, getting on steep slopes is like using the Dirty Harry principle:  do you feel lucky?

 

 

 

 

 

Bottom Line:

The current avalanche danger is HIGH.  Stay of off and out from underneath any steep slope.  Any avalanche that releases will be large and deadly.

 

The avalanche danger is EXTREME in the Provo area mountains.

 

 

Mountain Weather:

Snowfall should continue throughout the day with 8-12” of snow expected.  Ridge top winds will blow 30 to 40, 10,000’ temperatures will be in the low 20’s.

 

This afternoon winds will shift to the northwest and increase in speed.  Temperatures should drop into the mid teens with 8-12” more snow expected.  Lightning may occur with the passage of the cold front.  Snow should continue through Wednesday in areas favored by northwest flow.

 

A ridge builds in later in the week and we may actually see some clearing. 

 

There are a few spots left in the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center’s 3-day January 15-17 avalanche class.  Registration is at the Black Diamond retail store.

 

Snowbird is hosting its 2nd annual Backcountry Avalanche Awareness Week January 31 – February 7th as a benefit for the Utah Avalanche Center.  On Friday, February 4th, there will be a fundraising dinner at Snowbird with presentations by Dave Breashears and Apa Sherpa and Lhapka Rita.  On February 5th and 6th, there will be a variety of classes offered at Snowbird.  For more information, go to www.backcountryawareness.com.

 

We do an early morning update around 6am each day on the 364-1591 line.

 

If you are getting into the backcountry and see anything we should know about, give us a call at 524-5304, or 1-800-662-4140, or e-mail us at [email protected]

Your information is very valuable to us.

 

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:

http://www.avalanche.org/usdanger.htm