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
Monday, December 19, 2005 7:30am
Good morning,
this is Drew Hardesty with the
We are giving two free avalanche awareness talks
next week:
Dec 20th 7pm Wasatch Touring, SLC
Dec 21st 7pm Wanship Fire Station
The beacon locator park at Snowbird is now open and free to the public. It’s sponsored by Wasatch Backcountry Rescue
and Snowbird and located just off the bypass road in upper Little Cottonwood
Canyon.
Current Conditions:
The mountains from Ogden to Provo picked up another 6-10” overnight, pushing
storm totals to 20” in the Cottonwoods, 12” in the Provo and Park City
mountains, and over 2’ in the Ogden mountains.
Mid-elevations have a foot or more of new as well. Yesterday’s white smoke measured in at 3%
before densities doubled and even tripled with the warming trend overnight. Mountain
temperatures are 10-15 degrees warmer than this time yesterday as 10,000’ and 8,000’
temps are in the mid and upper-twenties.
Winds spiked with the wind shift to the northwest and have averaged 15-20
with gusts near 30 for the past couple hours.
Avalanche Conditions:
Widespread sluffing and pockets of soft slab comprised the bulk of yesterday’s activity
in the low density snow. Most remarked
that the feathers were so light that you’d have to be lying down and prone to
be buried and then a sneeze would uncover you.
It’ll be a different ballgame today.
It’s textbook. Continued
snowfall? Check. Rising temperatures and increasing
densities? Check. Increased winds along the ridges? Check.
I’m expecting natural sluffing and soft slab activity this morning that
will be most pronounced along the highest elevation east facing ridgelines. I also expect slabs of up to two feet to be
sensitive to triggering, running both within the new snow and at the old snow
interface on a wide range of aspects.
Travelers at the mid-elevations should exercise more caution with the
foot or more falling on a weaker snow surface.
Slope cuts, cornice drops, and test slopes will be excellent indicators
today.
Bottom
Line:
The avalanche
danger is CONSIDERABLE on any mid and
upper elevation slopes steeper than 35 degrees. Human triggered and localized natural avalanches
are probable. The danger will be more
pronounced in the higher elevations that have seen some drifting for the past
few hours of winds.
Mountain Weather:
We’ll see another
2-4” of higher density snow today before become showery and mostly cloudy by
early afternoon. Ridgetop temps will be
in the mid-twenties while 8000’ temps will be near freezing. Winds will be 15-20 mph from the
northwest. Another moist system moves in
tonight.
Regional
Snow Profile (this profile can also be
found daily off our home page under avalanche products)
Seasonal Weather History Charts.
Yesterday,
Wasatch Powderbird Guides didn’t get out due to weather. If they can get out today, they’ll be in AF,
Cascade and the
We
appreciate any backcountry snow and avalanche conditions you observe. Call (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, email [email protected] or fax 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.)
UDOT also has a highway avalanche control work
hotline for Little Cottonwood road, which is updated as needed. 801-975-4838.
The annual report for 2004-05 is now on the web.
(Click HERE,
8mb)