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

Wednesday, November 23, 2005  5pm
Good afternoon, this is Evelyn Lees with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather bulletin.  Today is Wednesday, November 23, 2005, and it’s about 2 pm.

There will be two showings of the new TGR film “Tangerine Dream” at Brewvies Thursday, December 1, at 7 and 9 pm.  This is a fundraiser for the UAC, sponsored by our partner, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center.  Advance tickets are available at Black Diamond retail or www.FeedTheHabit.com.

Next week our staff will be giving two free avalanche awareness talks.  The first is Tuesday, November 29th at the Salt Lake REI.  The second is Thursday, December 1st at the Sandy REI.  Both are at 7pm.  These talks are great for all ages and all types of recreation.

For a quick glance at avalanche classes in the Salt Lake and Park City area, (Click Here).

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

Current Conditions:   
The slow start to the winter continues, and about the only place to make turns is on higher elevation slopes, generally above 9,000’.  Even there, the total snow depths of one to two feet will have you scraping the bottom of your boards unless you’re very careful to stay on slopes with smooth underlying surfaces.  The snow is crusty on the sunny slopes, with soft, recrystalized powder on the shady slopes.

Avalanche Discussion:
Surface hoar sparkling in the sun, the swoosh of loud powder every turn…  Yup, these are the signs of a weakening snow pack.  The long, cold clear nights are faceting the upper layers of the snowpack, and in some places, the entire pack has turned to weak, sugary snow.  This thick weak layer will create a problem once we get another storm.  However, at the moment, the snow pack is mostly stable, because there is no slab, or layer of snow, on top of the weak snow. (Snow Profile).  Since the snowpack is so shallow and weak, there is a significant danger of hitting rocks and stumps, some which are lurking just under the snow surface. 

Mountain Weather: 
High pressure will remain in place through Thanksgiving Day, before shifting east on Friday.  8,000’ highs will be in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 20’s.  Winds will remain light, from a northerly direction.  The models are in disagreement over the weekend pattern change, but it looks like there will be a significant cooling of temperatures, with a chance for mountain snow on Saturday.

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

Seasonal Weather History Charts.  (NOTE:  USE INTERNET EXPLORER FOR BEST VIEWING)

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.