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
Friday,
January 13, 2006 7:30am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik 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:
Ridgetop
temperatures are on their way up from overnight lows in the single digits and
are now around 20 degrees. Ridgetop winds
calmed down over the last 12 hrs and are in the 10 mph range from the
west. The current snow surface is
settled powder with some wind affected areas along the ridgelines. Some southerly facing slopes will have a melt
freeze crust.
Avalanche Conditions:
I received a gazillion
observations from the Tri Canyons this morning with almost everyone of them
reporting skier triggered soft slab avalanches.
(Click
here for photos) The equation for
this was quite simple: 10 inches of
fresh snow plus significant winds yield sensitive wind slabs. A few of these avalanches were large enough that
you wouldn’t want to get caught by them but most of them were a manageable size
with slope cuts being quite effective.
Today,
you may still be able to find a wind slab that might pop out with the weight of
a person. Continue to watch for pillowy
drifts and perform slope cuts before diving in.
A
second consideration for today will be warming temperatures. Many of the southerly facing slopes did not
heat up yesterday but higher temperatures today will change that. Be on the lookout for damp snow with rollerballs and pinwheeling which
suggest the snow is changing and may become unstable.
Bottom Line: (
Today the avalanche danger is generally LOW however
a MODERATE danger does exist in steep upper
elevation terrain with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. You will most likely find these
on northeast through southeast facing slopes. Also, with climbing temperatures, there will
be a MODERATE danger of wet avalanches on southeast
through southwest facing slopes.
Mountain Weather:
For today we’ll see mostly clear skies with ridgetop temperatures
climbing into the 30s by this afternoon.
Ridgetop winds will start out in the 10 mph range from the southwest and
gradually increase into the 20s by around dark.
On Saturday temperatures will start to cool somewhat and ridgetop winds
will increase into the 30 mph range from the southwest. A storm will start to affect the area Saturday
night with a cold front moving through and a good chance for snow through Sunday.
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 933-2147.
Click HERE for a text only
version of the avalanche advisory.
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
Wasatch Powderbird Guides were in
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.
Evelyn Lees will
update this advisory by 7:30 Friday morning.
Thanks for calling.