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Avalanche advisory
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with the
Current Conditions:
The storm passed overnight but not before leaving a blanket of fresh snow over
the mountains. The Provo area mountains
received 2 to 4 inches, the Ogden area mountains received 4 to 6 inches, Park
City Ridgeline around 10 inches, and the Cottonwoods in the 12 to 15 inch
range. A report from one of our
observers on
Avalanche Conditions:
There was not much activity reported from Monday
but not many people were out and about either.
Activity that was reported consisted of loose snow avalanches initiating
from ski cuts and kicking small cornice chunks.
Once these got going they would run full track and fan out some
what. This was new snow running on our
old snow surface. There was some
cracking in the fresh drifts along the ridges as well.
Reports from ski patrol doing
sweeps late in the day in Little Cottonwood said fresh wind slabs were forming
and cracking up to 80’ wide and around 16” deep. With more snow overnight and enough wind to
transport snow, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some more fresh wind drifts or
wind slabs along the upper ridges today.
These will be new snow related and should be easy to recognize and
manage for experienced travelers. Watch
for deeper drifts while you’re traveling and note if these drifts are cracking
at all.
Another concern for today, as
usual in the spring, is warm temperatures.
Partial clearing and rising temperatures will affect the new snow
rapidly. A natural wet avalanche cycle
will probably occur today involving the new snow. At lower elevations, the entire snowpack is
mush so avoid steep terrain traps while entering or exiting the mountains. A major warm up is in store for the next few
days which could pose problems with all the snow that we’ve received over the
last few weeks. Pay close attention to
temperatures over the next few days.
Bottom Line (
Most
areas have a MODERATE
danger this morning. The hazard is
likely higher in the upper elevation wind affected terrain in the Cottonwood
Canyons which received the most snow.
The danger may rise to CONSIDERABLE
with daytime heating.
Danger Scale: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/ed-scale.htm
Mountain Weather: (You can find the afternoon
Weather Update here.)
We will remain in a northwest flow for most of the day as the ridge of high
pressure approaches. Skies will clear
somewhat, ridgetop temperatures will be in the low 20s and continue to rise. Ridgetop winds will be in the 15 to 20 mph range
from the northwest and continue to slow as the day progresses.
Warm
and clear for Wednesday with 8000 foot temperatures in the low 50s. Thursday brings some clouds with 8000 foot
temperatures in the mid 50s. 10,000’
temperatures will get into the upper 30’s Wednesday and Thursday.
Eyes
are on the next storm approaching which again could produce a good shot of snow
for the northern
Wasatch
Powderbird guides were not able to fly yesterday and will be in Mineral,
If you are getting out, we appreciate
your snowpack and avalanche observations.
Please call and leave a message at 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or e-mail
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.
Evelyn Lees will update this
advisory by 7:30 on Wednesday morning.
Thanks for calling.