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
AVALANCHE BULLETIN
Monday, November 14, 2005 5pm
Good afternoon,
this is Evelyn Lees with the
The annual report for 2004-05 is now on the web.
(Click HERE,
8mb)
Current Conditions:
The weather forecast verified nicely, and as of 3 pm, 8 to 12 of new snow had
fallen at the mid and upper elevations of the Cottonwoods and
This shot of dense, graupel filled snow is just what
the base needed, and the total snow depth at 9,500 is now edging toward 2 feet
in the
Avalanche Discussion:
New snow and
strong winds are the perfect formula for avalanches. Today, there were two human triggered slides on
northwest facing High Rustler at the unopened Alta resort. One was about 18 deep by 30 wide, widened
to about 60 and ran down almost to the cat track. Both were in wind drifted areas, and failed
above a buried ice crust. If youre
heading out on Tuesday or Wednesday, it will still be possible to trigger sensitive
wind drifts within the new snow and slides that break deeper, failing near the
ice crust. Strong winds complicate the
loading pattern. They can either scour or
deposit along the ridge crests and they often drift snow lower on slopes, and around
terrain features such as gully walls and sub ridges. Wind drifts may be pockety in nature and
tricky to identify, so keep a sharp look out tomorrow and Wednesday.
Its not too early in the season to get caught in a
slide, so think avalanches, cross and descend steep slopes one at a time, and
make sure you have your beacon, shovel and probe. If you do go for a ride, your chance of being
injured by slamming into a rock may be more likely than getting buried. Finally,
remember that the resorts are not open, not doing control work, and must be
treated as backcountry.
Mountain Weather:
The strong, upper
level system across northern
We will update this advisory as conditions
warrant. Stay tuned.
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.)
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
Thanks for calling.