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

Thursday, November 17, 2005  5pm
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather bulletin.  Today is Thursday, November 17, 2005, and it’s about 8am. 

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

Current Conditions:   
The series of small storms from last Friday through Monday added some much needed depth to our current snowpack.  Temperatures have remained cold and wind speeds have calmed down after Mondays blast.  Currently skies are cloudy over the mountains.  Temperatures at 8,000 feet are near 30 and in the low 20s at 10,000 feet.  Ridge top winds are from the northwest at 20 miles per hour with gusts to 50 at the highest locations.

Avalanche Discussion:
Mondays wind slab avalanches are now a thing of the past.  Although, if you dig down you will continue to find shears above last Fridays frozen crust.  These shears are down 12 to 24 inches and are somewhat stubborn and not real clean either.  (Snow Profile)  You may also find some minor cracking higher in the snowpack on graupel that fell on Monday.  I don’t think that either of these shears present a problem right now.

Wind and temperature changes over the next week will dictate what type of avalanche problems we may encounter if any.  The first thing that comes to mind is there is enough loose snow on the surface that could get blown into sensitive drifts with the forecasted winds today.  The next thing to keep in mind is problems with wet avalanches.  Temperatures should warm a bit over the weekend, so this danger could increase on steep southeast through southwest facing slopes especially on slopes that had snow prior to our last storm.

A bigger danger right now is the possibility of falling on rocks just under the snow surface.  Keep in mind that a lot of areas have a very shallow, unconsolidated snowpack.  Have patience.  You don’t want to end your winter season due to injuries before it even really gets started.

Mountain Weather: 
A high pressure ridge is making its way over Utah.  Until it settles in directly over us during the weekend, we’ll see a northerly flow bring enough moisture through to produce some cloudiness and even a snow flurry or two in the Uintas.  Once the ridge is in place, its unwelcome presence may last through next week. 

For Thursday we’ll see a few clouds moving through in the morning then clearing late afternoon.  Temperatures at 8,000 feet will be in the mid 30s and upper 20s at 10,000 feet.  Ridge top winds will be from the N at 10 to 20 miles per hour with gusts into the 40s & 50s at the more exposed locations.  Friday will be mostly clear with slightly warmer temperatures.  Ridgetop winds should remain from the north at 10 to 20 mph.

Temperatures should warm up a bit more over the weekend and stay there into next week.

We will update this advisory as conditions warrant.  Stay tuned and thanks for calling.  

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.