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/
To receive automated
e-mails of this advisory click HERE.
Avalanche advisory
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Good morning, this Evelyn
Lees with the
A Special
Avalanche Statement is in effect for most of the mountains of
Current Conditions:
I think we are finally
starting to see a bit of blue at the end of the storm. Snow fall tapered off yesterday evening, and
most areas received about 4 overnight, with 24 hour snow totals of about a
foot. Winds shifted to the northwest
with frontal passage and overnight increased across the higher peaks into the
25 to 35 mph range, with gusts in the 40s and 50s. Temperatures are more winter like, in the
single digits and low teens.
Avalanche Conditions:
Our two week storm cycle
has slammed 5 to 10 of water weight onto the existing snow pack, overloading several
buried weak layers. So once again,
numerous deep, large slides were reported in steep terrain yesterday, both
natural and explosive triggered. Crowns
averaged 3 to 6 feet deep, several were hundreds of feet wide, and one crown was
about a mile in length. Many removed large
timber in their track, and a number of paths ran bigger and deeper than has
been seen in over 30 years. Here are
some great photos of the Dog
Leg Chutes natural; photo 2. Even new snow slides
were wide and far running. With partially
clearing skies, sightseeing may be remarkable today.
The moderate to strong
winds will continue the avalanche cycle today by creating sensitive drifts of
wind blown snow. Once triggered or
releasing naturally, the weight of these new snow avalanches has the potential
to trigger a deeper, larger slide.
Backcountry travel is not recommended for people
without excellent travel skills. While rather limited, wind sheltered, low
angle terrain with no steep slopes above does exist in the Wasatch. But if you do head out today, you need to think
BIG when estimating potential runout zones for any steep slopes. If you travel along ridgelines today, stay well
back from sensitive cornices.
Bottom Line (
The avalanche danger is HIGH, and
both human triggered and natural avalanches are likely. Stay of off and out from
underneath any steep slope, especially those being drifted with wind blown snow. The potential still exists for large, long
running avalanches.
Mountain Weather:
A stable air mass has
moved into the area this morning, and skies should slowly clear. Unfortunately,
moderate to strong northwesterly winds will persist through at least tomorrow, with
25 to 35 mph averages are expected across the higher ridges. Temperatures will be near 20 at 8,000 and
near 10 at 10,000. A pocket of colder
air moving in tonight will create mostly cloudy skies and produce a few snow
showers late this afternoon and tonight.
Next chance for snow will be Friday into the weekend, as a weak wave
slips under the ridge
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.
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.
Thanks for calling
For an explanation of avalanche
danger ratings:
http://www.avalanche.org/usdanger.htm