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Avalanche advisory
Friday, March 11, 2005
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with the
Current Conditions:
Skies are clear and temperatures are at least 5 degrees colder this morning
then yesterday morning at this time with most stations in the mid 20s. Winds are from the north northeast in the 15
mph range with some gusts into the 20s at some locations.
Avalanche Conditions:
We are definitely into a spring like pattern with daytime heating the main
cause for avalanche concern. The snow
surface should be locked up a bit better then yesterday but quite warm
temperatures forecasted for today will quickly soften the snow.
The rule of thumb with spring time
recreation is to get after it early and get out of the mountains early. If you leave the hills before things turn to
mush you dramatically lower your chances for getting caught in an avalanche and
you can also avoid the afternoon slow, grabby snow that can be annoying while
exiting drainages.
It’s worth mentioning that you
may find a few small isolated wind slabs at the upper elevations that may have
formed with the winds over the last few days.
Bottom Line (
The avalanche danger is generally LOW this morning, and
will rise to MODERATE with daytime heating on slopes steeper then about 35
degrees. Both wet loose sluffs and wet
slab avalanches are possible. MOVE OUT OF THE MOUNTAINS BEFORE THE SNOW
TURNS SOFT AND SLUSHY.
For an explanation of
avalanche danger ratings go to: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/ed-scale.htm
Mountain Weather: (You can find the afternoon Weather Update here.)
Temperatures will get quite warm today.
Expect to see 10,000 foot highs up in the mid 30’s and 8000 foot highs
near 50. This is definitely a good
reason to leave the mountains early.
Winds should back off a bit and will be from the north at around 10
mph.
Most
of Saturday will be clear with warm temperatures again then things cool off as
a cold front moves through Saturday night.
This cold front, unfortunately, won’t produce any significant
snowfall. A slightly better system could
affect the area Monday night.
Yesterday,
Wasatch
Powderbird Guides flew in the Cascade Ridge area. Today they will operate in American Fork and
the Cascade Ridge area.
If you have any snow or
avalanche observations, call and leave a message at 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140,
or e-mailing us at [email protected]. Fax is 524-6301.
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.