In partnership with:
The
Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center Home page is: http://www.utahavalanchecenter.com
To receive automated e-mails
of this advisory click HERE.
Please click here and
fill out our user’s survey
Avalanche advisory
Friday, April 08, 2005
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with the
Current Conditions:
It seemed as if there were more ravens playing on the southwesterlies yesterday
than there were people in the backcountry.
Temperatures soared into the 40’s and 50’s in the mountains and even this
morning’s first trace of precipitation is coming down as light rain below about
9500’. The highest, most exposed
anemometers have wind speeds from the south at 25-35mph, but they should drop
off as they veer westerly and then a bit northwesterly with frontal
passage. Most areas will have a poor to
non-existent refreeze this morning, soon to be buried under 3-5” of new.
Avalanche Conditions:
While far from widespread, a few new natural wet slabs pulled out yesterday,
the most notable reported off the sunny side of the Park City ridgeline above
Bonanza Flats at about 9800’. The
observer reported it to be a couple hundred yards wide and a few feet deep,
stepping to the ground in some areas.
Other wet slabs pulled out on the lower roll-overs in the Meadow chutes
on northeast facing terrain at 9000’. These
were 8-10” deep and about 75-100’ wide. And
with most things in life, timing is everything.
The slopes will be supportable only until they’re not. At 6pm(!), a skier
coming down near
Springtime avalanches can be a
complicated mess. It just depends on the
weather. One day it’ll storm and we’ll
see sensitive wind drifts on lee slopes.
The next couple of days, wet slabs and point releases on the sunny
slopes. Remember that on the whole, avalanches
run either because of an increase in stress or a decrease in strength. Stress
due to heavy snowfall and/or transportable winds and loss of strength due to free water within the snowpack. So with only a few inches expected today, ‘dry
snow’ avalanche activity is expected to be minor in scope, so initially our
problems will revolve around the poor refreeze at the mid and lower elevations
on all aspects where I’d expect that you could get some wet snow to move even
this morning.
Bottom Line (
There
is a MODERATE
danger of wet activity at the mid and low elevations and human triggered
avalanches can be expected. Watch for a
rising danger if we pick up more than about 6” of snow during the day.
Danger Scale: http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/ed-scale.htm
Mountain Weather: (You can
find the afternoon Weather Update here.)
The first of two storms for the weekend is on our doorstep. The ski areas are reporting a trace to an
inch at the higher elevations and we should see snow for most of the day. 8000’ highs will be in the mid-30’s with
10,000’ temps dropping to the mid-twenties by late afternoon. A second stronger storm should move through
overnight, though most of the energy will push south. Northern mountains could see totals of up to
a foot or so by early Sunday.
Wasatch
Powderbird guides didn’t fly yesterday and won’t get out today.
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 Saturday morning.
Thanks for calling.