Wasatch Cache National Forest
In
partnership with: Utah State Parks and Recreation, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah
Department of Emergency Services and Homeland Security and Salt Lake County.
The NEW AND IMPROVED Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center Home page is: http://www.utahavalanchecenter.com
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Avalanche advisory
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Good morning, this is Evelyn
Lees with the Forest
Service Utah
Avalanche Center
with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Saturday, January 29, 2005, and it’s
7:30 in the morning.
This Friday,
January 28th, Brett Kobernik will be giving a free avalanche awareness
talk at Milosport in Orem at 7 pm.
Current Conditions:
A moist air mass is over
northern Utah
this morning, but the very light winds are struggling to get any of that moisture
up into the mountains. As of 6 am, only an
inch or less of new snow has fallen. The
southeast winds are mostly in the 5 to 10 mph range, but across the highest
peaks and along the PC ridgeline averages are 15 mph with gusts to 25 mph. Temperatures are in the 20’s. Thursday’s new snow significantly improved the
turning and riding conditions, especially on shady mid and upper elevation
slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
Yesterday, skiers easily released
shallow wind drifts with slope cuts in the Ogden
and Provo area
mountains, which were 6 to 12” deep and 30 to 75’ wide. These soft wind slabs and a few sensitive
cornices were created by several hours of stronger winds the night before. By now, most of Thursday’s new snow should be
well bonded, but be sure to put in a couple of slope cuts at the top of steep
slopes, especially in areas with 6 or more inches of new snow or any slope with
fresh wind drifts. As the day warms up, wet
loose sluffs and “push-a-lanches” will be possible on
steep lower and mid elevation slopes of all aspects, especially if the sun
peeks out or the clouds thin.
And finally, don’t let
your guard down if you decide to travel on big, steep slopes, especially those
that didn’t slide during the January avalanche cycle. Travel one at a time, have an escape route
planned, and avoid shallow snow pack areas where it still may be possible to
trigger a deeper slide.
Bottom Line (Salt
Lake, Park
City, Ogden
and Provo
mountains):
Most slopes
have a LOW avalanche danger, and there are only
isolated places where a person could trigger a slide. The hazard may rise to MODERATE
today on any steep slope that gets loaded with a fresh drifts
of wind blown snow, with daytime heating, or in areas that receive more than 4 inches
of additional snow today.
Mountain Weather:
The splitting storm system
moving through the region is once again leaving northern Utah out of the main flow. The mountains will have periods of snow today,
with 2 to 4” possible. Winds will be light,
generally less than 15 mph from the southeast and east. High temperatures will
be near 30 at 8,000’ and near 20 at 10,000’.
Tonight, mostly cloudy skies, with scattered snow showers and the winds
remaining light and shifting to the northeast.
Lows will be in the upper teens. Sunday
will be mostly cloudy, with a slow drying trend. A ridge of high pressure will redevelop after
the weekend, and the next chance for an adjustment to a stormier pattern is
about a week away.
Yesterday Powderbird
Guides were not able to fly, and most likely will not get out today, but if
they do will be in Cardiff,
Days, Silver, Mineral, Grizzly Gulch and American Fork.
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 Utah Governor,
Jon Huntsman, 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.
UDOT COTTONWOOD CANYONS HOTLINE FOR ROAD CLOSURE INFORMATION: 975-4838.
If you see anything we
ought to know about please call and leave a message at 524-5304, or
1-800-662-4140, or e-mail us at [email protected],
remember we can’t be everywhere at once, so we depend on people just like
you.
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.
Drew Hardesty will update this advisory by 7:30 on Sunday
morning.
Thanks for calling
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings:
http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/ed-scale.htm