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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e-mails of this advisory click HERE.
Avalanche advisory
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Good morning, this Drew
Hardesty with the
Current Conditions:
Skies are mostly cloudy
with temperatures about 5-7 degrees warmer than this time yesterday. 10,000’ temps are in the mid-twenties with
cooler temps aloft as well as down in the basins and mountain valleys. The west-northwesterly winds have calmed down
overnight and are averaging 12-15 mph, gusting into the 20’s. Snow surface conditions range from breakable
on the steep sunny slopes with some wind damage on the more exposed northerly
aspects. Soft recrystallized powder
covers much of the protected shady slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
Continued explosive
testing in the backcountry by the Powderbirds brought
out more deep slab releases in Cardiac Bowl, Little
Superior and in upper Mineral Fork – all upper elevation north facing slopes. Those on the Silver-Days-Cardiff
circuit will have plenty of avalanche eye-candy to write home about, as most
are 4-8’ deep with some up to 2000’ wide.
Little more is known about the Dutch
Draw accident, but hat’s off to those involved in
the search. Photos keep pouring in and I’ll
try to have a web gallery up by midday.
One party experienced a large booming collapse on a shady slope in White
Pine, but that was the extent of the mischief reported from the
backcountry.
These monsters are
breaking down to the weak faceted snow that formed during the November dry
spell and will be slow to stabilize. Ski cuts, classic stability tests and other
tracks on the slope will provide little indication of stability. Take note that these recent slides
are running historically far distances, taking out 100 year old trees, and
overrunning what we normally think as safe spots. Shallow slope angles will continue to be the
ticket – good safe riding can be found on and below slopes less steep than 30
degrees.
Bottom Line (
The avalanche
danger remains CONSIDERABLE on and below all northwest through the
easterly facing slopes approaching 35 degrees and steeper. Human triggered avalanches are likely to be UNSURVIVABLY LARGE and DANGEROUS. Wet sluffs may be expected at the mid-to low
elevations.
Mountain Weather:
Today will be mostly
cloudy with a few flurries expected by late afternoon as a weak system moves
through. Temperatures will be warmer,
with highs in the upper 30’s at 8,000’ and the mid to upper 20’s at
10,000’. Winds will be 15-20mph from the
west northwest.
Yesterday Powderbird
Guides flew in
UDOT HAS A NEW ROAD AND AVALANCHE HOTLINE
FOR THE COTTONWOODS: 975-4838.
Snowbird is
hosting its 2nd annual Backcountry Avalanche Awareness Week January
31 – February 7th as a benefit for the
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]
We value your information
very much.
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.
I will update this advisory by 7:30 on Monday
morning.
Thanks for calling
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings:
http://www.avalanche.org/usdanger.htm