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 ADVISORY
Saturday, December 03, 2005 7:00am
Good morning,
this is Evelyn Lees with the
The 1st annual Wasatch Winter Film Festival (a.k.a.The White Room), featuring local amateur ski
& snowboard films, will be held at
Wasatch Touring will sponsor the 1st annual
Avalanche Roundtable discussion on Monday, December 5th at 7:30 pm in
Memory Grove at the Memorial House. Three avalanche survivors will tell
their stories, including mountaineer Jeff Lowe, and locals Rick Hoffman and
Steve Walcher. It is free and open to the
public.
Current Conditions:
This morning, light snow is falling, and there is a chilly combination of
single digit temperatures and northwesterly winds in the 15 to 20 mph range. Over
the last two days, the mountains have picked up an additional 9 to 16 of snow,
with 1 to 2 inches of water content. During
the storm, winds were moderate to strong from the southwest through northwesterly
directions. Turning and riding
conditions are very good in creamy powder, and fast even on low and moderate
angled slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
The avalanche season
is definitely here, and backcountry travelers need to use caution today. Yesterday, numerous slides were reported, both
within the new snow and deeper slides breaking on the faceted snow near the
ground. The new snow slides were on
steep wind drifted slopes, and should be less sensitive today.
The slides breaking into old snow are the scarier
ones. There was a natural in the
For more information, check out the Backcountry Avalanche
List and the Current
Snow Profile, which Ill update later this morning.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger
is CONSIDERABLE
on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, facing northwest through east, above
about 7,500 feet. These slopes have weak
faceted snow near the ground, and slides could be triggered by a person,
especially in shallower snow pack areas.
Human triggered slides are probable on these slopes. The avalanche danger is MODERATE on other slopes
steeper than about 35 degrees, and there is a LOW danger on slopes less
steep than about 30 degrees.
Mountain Weather:
A moist and
unstable northwest flow will remain over the area through Sunday. Lake effect snow showers could add another 5
to 6 inches of low density fluff to areas favored by northwest flow today and
again tonight. 10,000 temperatures will
remain in the single digits through Sunday, and ridge top winds will be from
the northwest, in the 20 to 25 mph range.
Seasonal Weather History Charts. (NOTE: USE INTERNET EXPLORER FOR BEST VIEWING)
Please
report any backcountry snow and avalanche conditions you observe. We appreciate all information. You can call (801) 524-5304 or
1-800-662-4140, or email to [email protected]
or fax to 801-524-6301. 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.
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 annual report for 2004-05 is now on the web.
(Click HERE,
8mb)
Drew
Hardesty will update this advisory Sunday morning. Thanks for calling.