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,
January 09, 2006 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:
A few more inches of light density snow fell during the day yesterday
and one can connect the dots between Saturday night and Sunday for up to a foot
or so in the Salt Lake and Ogden mountains and about half that in the Park City
and Provo mountains. The northwest winds
blew 20-30mph yesterday in the central Wasatch and up to 40mph to the north,
but this morning, there’s hardly a whisper.
Add bluebird skies and excellent snow conditions to the mix and you’ve
got the picture. Don’t forget to take
that extra layer: the departing storm dropped temperatures into the single
digits.
Avalanche Conditions:
Along the lee of the high ridgelines, folks found localized, manageable
wind drifts of up to a foot deep that responded well to the weight of a person
or a cornice fall. I describe these as
manageable because this type of avalanche is relatively predictable, fracturing
at or just below your feet and typically not very wide. Immediate gratification. Test slopes
are good indicators as well. But if you
compare this to hard slab conditions or a snowpack with active, persistent weak
layers which can pull out on the third skier or be triggered from a distance, I’ll
take your garden variety new snow wind drift any day.
Nonetheless, a few lingering, pockety wind drifts will remain sensitive
today, and these are most likely to be found in the higher terrain on the northeast
through south facing slopes. Riders in
steep terrain will want to work the sluff management of the unaffected low
density snow, particularly on the steep sunny aspects that will be seeing the
sun for the first time.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger is barely MODERATE in the steep
wind loaded upper elevation terrain. Expect
an increase in wet activity on the sunny aspects as temperatures warm
throughout the day.
Mountain Weather:
We’ll have sunny skies and light winds today. 8000’ highs will bump to the upper twenties
with 10,000’ temps in the upper teens. Look
for increasing clouds and winds later Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of a
promising looking storm slated for late Wednesday into Thursday.
Other mountain weather information can be found here.
Regional
Snow Profile (this profile can also be
found daily off our home page under avalanche products)
Click here for Seasonal Weather History Charts.
Announcements and
Miscellaneous:
3rd Annual Backcountry Awareness Week Monday Jan 30-Sunday
February 5
Fundraising Dinner February
3rd at 6pm with speakers Conrad Anker and Apa Sherpa. For more info, go to www.backcountryawareness.com or
call Snowbird at 922-2147.
The
Wasatch Powderbird Guides didn’t get out yesterday, but will head to the Bountiful
Sessions, American Fork, and Lamb’s Canyon.
For more info, call 742-2800.
Please
report any backcountry snow and avalanche conditions. 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.
Brett Kobernik will update this advisory by 7:30 Tuesday morning. Thanks for calling.