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,
January 03, 2006 7:30am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with
the
UDOT will be doing avalanche control work in Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood
and
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:
One more period of intense snow this morning will keep the avalanche
danger on the rise at least for a few more hours. Many of our remote weather stations are
currently down but it appears that temperatures are cooling in the mountains
with ridgetop temperatures down into the mid to low 20s. Ridgetop winds slowed down a bit from
yesterday but are still blowing in the 20 to 30 mph range from the west.
Avalanche Conditions:
Monday was another active day with human triggered, explosive triggered,
and natural avalanches. At least one
report of natural activity from near
All the indicators should be obvious.
Upper elevations have had around 7 feet of snow containing around 7
inches or better of water since Thursday, December 29th. Strong winds have transported a lot of this
snow into very large drifts which have been active over the last few days
producing very large and deadly avalanches.
(Photos
from Sunday) An intense period of
snow along with significant winds currently happening at many mountain locations
is making the avalanche danger increase.
Every snow safety worker I’ve talked to is gearing up for another active
day and no backcountry traveler I know wants anything to do with toying around
in upper elevation wind loaded terrain.
Partial clearing today will entice some people into steeper terrain but
wise people who want to be in the mountains for the long haul are giving the
snowpack some time to stabilize. You’ll
be able to get on to steeper terrain soon enough, its best not to push it
today.
Preliminary accident report from Timpanogos can be found here.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger is HIGH today especially in
upper elevation wind loaded terrain.
Human triggered avalanches have the potential to be very large and
unsurvivable. With these large
avalanches likely, you need to stay out of runout zones as these slides could
travel thousands of feet in elevation.
People without excellent avalanche and route finding skills are urged to
stay out of the high country today.
Mountain Weather:
The period of intense snow will taper off this morning after putting
down an additional 4 to 6 inches.
Ridgetop winds will be in the 20 to 30 mph range from the west and decreasing
as the day goes on. Ridgetop
temperatures will continue to drop and will bottom out in the upper teens to
low twenties. Another small storm is now
scheduled for tonight and into Wednesday which will push the short period of
high pressure off for a day. This next
storm won’t bring significant snowfall.
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 due to bad weather. If they can get out today, they’ll be in
Please
report 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.