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 26, 2005 7:30am
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with
the
Check out our new graphical advisory format. You can update your bookmarks to this link:
http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/newadvisory/advisory.php
Current Conditions:
Today will be one of those weather-transition days ahead of an
approaching Pacific storm. Skies are
already mostly cloudy and we’ll see some light snow during the day with the
bulk of the storm moving through early evening and overnight. The southerly winds picked up another notch
overnight and are blowing 25-35 with gusts near 60. Mountain temperatures are in the upper
twenties to low thirties. The
backcountry offers supportable to breakable crusts on the sunnier aspects to
punchy settled powder on the sheltered northerly slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
No new avalanches were reported from the backcountry, although the
southerly winds from the past 18 hours or so likely deposited a few isolated
stubborn wind drifts along the highest ridgelines. Otherwise, it’s still mostly quiet and the
snow geeks are left to map the snow surface conditions for tonight’s storm. Those coming out of the backcountry late on a
dusk patrol should be aware of potentially changing conditions late afternoon as
snow starts to fall in earnest.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger is mostly LOW with the exception of
a few new wind drifts scattered along the highest elevation starting zones. By late afternoon, sluffing in the new snow
may occur on the steepest southern slopes that sport slick underlying crusts.
Mountain Weather:
With a juicy Pacific storm on the doorstep, we’ll have overcast skies and
a few inches of snow during the day before snow starts to fall in earnest with the
passing cold front this afternoon. Winds will be from the southwest at 25-35mph
along the high ridges. 10,000’ temps
will be in the mid-twenties before dropping to the mid-teens tonight. 8000’ highs will be in the mid-thirties. The good news is that we’re finally set up
with an active storm track that should set us up for another storm Thursday and
another one over the weekend. It’s about
time.
Regional
Snow Profile (this profile can also be
found daily off our home page under avalanche products)
Click here for Seasonal Weather History Charts.
Yesterday,
Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew along the Cascade Ridgeline. While it’s unlikely that they will get out
today, their proposed itinerary has them back in
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)
I will update
this advisory by 7:30 Tuesday morning. Thanks for calling.