Wasatch Cache National Forest
In partnership with: Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Department of Emergency Services and Homeland Security and Salt Lake County.

 

AVALANCHE BULLETIN

Tuesday, November 08, 2005  3pm
Good afternoon, this is Evelyn Lees with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather bulletin.  Today is Tuesday, November 8th, 2005 and it’s about 2pm. 

The annual report for 2004-05 is now on the web. (click HERE, 8mb)

Current Conditions:   
The slowly approaching storm is keeping northern Utah under a warm, southerly flow.  Once again, overnight temperatures were generally above freezing at and below 9,500’.  A mix of light rain with some snow has been falling in the mountains, with a rain/snow line probably near 10,000’.  The southerly winds have decreased into the teens, with gusts into the 30’s.

I think we may be losing ground with this storm, with more snow melting and sublimating than will be added when it’s all over.  In the Cottonwoods, Park City and Provo area mountains, about of foot of snow remains on the ground on shady slopes above 9500’.  In the Ogden area mountains, a couple of days of nonfreezing temperatures to the ridgecrests has reduced the snow to patches. 

Avalanche Discussion: 
With the shrinking snow pack, touring possibilities are very limited and hitting a rock or partially buried stump may be more likely than triggering an avalanche.  On the plus side, the warm temperatures should be strengthening the existing snow on the ground at all but the highest elevations.  They will also help the new snow bond to the old snow surface, even in areas with the ice crust.  If you head to the upper elevations tomorrow, check the bonding between the new snow and the old snow surface, particularly where there is the buried ice crust.  It may be possible to trigger a sluff or small slab avalanche at this interface, especially on wind drifted slopes. 

With a slow start to the season, now’s a great time to put fresh batteries in your beacon and do a practice drill.  Make sure you carry a shovel, and practice safe travel techniques by crossing steep slopes one at a time.

Mountain Weather: 
The splitting storm is progressing slowly into northern Utah today.  Rain has been mixed with snow so far, but the rain/snow line should eventually drop to about 8,000’.  5 to 9” of snow is possible by tomorrow morning.  Winds will shift to a more westerly direction, and decrease to hourly average less than 25 mph.   8,000’ lows will be near 30 tonight, with highs in the low 40’s tomorrow.  Dry and warmer weather is forecast for Wednesday and Thursday.

You can also check out the National Weather Service web site for other weather forecasting products (http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/slc/).

Click HERE for a season history chart by month.

To have this advisory automatically e-mailed to you each day, click HERE.  (You must re-sign up this season even if you were on the list last season.)

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center Home page is: http://www.utahavalanchecenter.com

We are looking for feed back on our MOCK-UP of our new advisory format.  Let us know what you think!  http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/newadvisory

We will update this forecast again as conditions change.

Thanks for calling.