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
Saturday,
January 14, 2006 7:30am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with
the
Special avalanche
statement: The avalanche danger will increase rapidly tonight through Monday
as a strong storm system impacts the northern
Current Conditions:
A
strong, southwesterly flow will be over the area today ahead of the next storm
system. Temperatures have warmed into
the low 30s at 9,500, and the southwesterly winds are averaging 15 to 25 mph,
with gusts into the 40 and 50s. The
sunny slopes will definitely be crusted today, and wind damaged areas will be
expanding. Your best bet for powder will
be on wind sheltered shady slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
There were two unintentionally
triggered avalanches in the backcountry yesterday, a soft slab in upper White
Pine and a loose snow slide on
Today,
fresh wind drifts will be the avalanche problem. The strong winds will be blowing and drifting
the snow, and these new drifts will deepen and become more widespread and
sensitive through out the day. These
drifts will be most widespread on north through easterly facing slopes, and could
also develop at mid elevations and off the ridgelines.
The
combination of strong winds and intermittent cloud cover should keep a lid on
damp snow activity today. But if the sun
pops out this afternoon or the snow becomes damp or sloppy on the slope where
you are, switch to a slope with cooler snow or stay on low angle terrain.
Bottom Line: (
Today the avalanche danger is MODERATE on steep slopes
with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.
Outside of wind affected terrain, the avalanche danger is generally LOW.
Mountain Weather:
A potent storm system will reach northern
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.
Check out our new graphical advisory format. You can update your bookmarks to this link:
http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/newadvisory/advisory.php
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 Silver, Days, Grizzly and American Fork yesterday,
and today they will be in Cardiff, Days, Silver,and White
Pine, with a second ship in the Sessions or Cascade. 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.
Drew Hardesty will update this advisory by 7:30 Sunday morning. Thanks for calling.