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
Tuesday,
December 27, 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:
Christmas arrived just in the nick of time, only a couple days
late. Storm totals across the range
include 8-10” in the
Avalanche Conditions:
The new snow seemed to bond pretty well to the old snow surfaces
yesterday, but this may well be a moot point with the somewhat inverted snow,
heavy graupel and strong winds. This
combination will create both localized sensitive new wind drifts and more
stubborn hard wind slabs in the mid and upper elevations of up to 1-3’. Furthermore, the strong southerly winds from
Monday morning and the moderate to strong northwesterly winds overnight will
have loaded some starting zones further down the slope on a variety of aspects.
Those in big, complicated terrain should exercise caution in more than just the
usual upper elevation starting zones.
Cornice drops, slope cuts, and steep but safe test slopes will also give
some localized information on representative slopes. Regardless, it’ll be important to look for
and avoid any smooth, pillowy, hollow-sounding drifts on steep lee
terrain. Beacons, probes, and shovels
will be required and put only one person on the slope at a time.
With a rain
crust up to 8500’ in the Provo and Ogden mountains, avalanches are more
likely to run fast and far on this slick underlying bed surface.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE this morning in mid and upper
elevation wind drifted slopes steeper than 35 degrees. Human triggered avalanches will be probable
in these areas. Avalanches are likely to
become more stubborn and more localized by the end of the day. Out of the wind
affected zones, the danger is MODERATE.
Mountain Weather:
The exiting storm system will leave the mountains with mostly to partly
cloudy skies by the afternoon. Winds
will be 15-20 from the northwest.
10,000’ temps will be near 20 with 8000’ highs in the upper twenties. The storm track stays active, with another
cold front due early Thursday with another storm on tap for Saturday.
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 were grounded.
If they can fly today, they’ll be in Silver, Days,
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)
Evelyn Lees will
update this advisory by 7:30 Wednesday morning.
Thanks for calling.