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
Wednesday,
January 18, 2006 7:30am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with
the
Current Conditions:
A warm
front moved through northern Utah overnight, dropping a couple of inches of dense
snow and warming temperatures into the 20’s at 10,000’. The southwesterly winds got in on the action,
blowing throughout the night in the 15 to 25 mph range, with gusts in the 30’s
to 60’s. To find good riding and
snowshoeing conditions, I’d be searching for wind sheltered terrain today. As fresh snow piles up on the settled powder base,
conditions will just get better.
Avalanche Conditions:
The snow pack was mostly stable yesterday, with no new avalanches
reported. Today will be a day of
increasing avalanche danger, so be alert to changing conditions and plan your backcountry
trip to have a variety of terrain choices, including some lower angle options.
Overnight,
the winds drifted the snow, forming some dense and perhaps stubborn drifts,
especially on north through easterly facing slopes. These drifts are both along the ridgelines
and around terrain features such as gully walls, sub ridges and mid slope breakovers. Some of the older drifts may be hidden under
the new snow, and harder to detect. Avoid
any steep slope with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.
As the day progresses and you’re in an area where the new snow stacks
up and the winds continued to blow, the new snow may be come sensitive. On some slopes there are slick crusts beneath
the old snow on many aspects, and once a slide gets moving, it may take out a
couple of layers of snow, resulting in a deeper slide.
Bottom Line:
This will be a day of increasing avalanche danger. This morning, the avalanche danger is MODERATE on steep slopes with fresh drifts of wind blown
snow. With additional snow and wind, the
avalanche danger may rise to CONSIDERABLE
this afternoon. As always, avoid the steep wind drifted slopes and be alert for
changing conditions today.
Mountain Weather:
A broad trough over the western US will keep a moist and unstable air
mass over northern
Announcements:
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 did not fly yesterday, and if they can fly today,
they’ll be 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.