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,
February 04, 2006 7:30am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with
the
Current Conditions:
It’s a mild morning, with mostly cloudy
skies, temperatures in the upper teens to low 20’s, and the southwesterly winds
generally less than 15 mph. Several weeks
of small storms were capped off Wednesday through Thursday with another foot of
dense, but loose snow, with the upper elevations in the Cottonwoods receiving close
to 18”. Turning, riding and snowshoeing
conditions are excellent on northwest through easterly facing slopes. Conditions
on the south and westerly facing slopes are mixed. Late yesterday, the sun peeked out in some drainages, and there the snow will be crusted this morning.
Avalanche Conditions:
For a second day in a row, backcountry
travelers yesterday kicked off small slides on steep, wind drifted slopes of
all aspects. These slides were generally
less than a foot deep, and up to 50’ wide.
While that sounds pretty tame, these slides were actually big enough to
catch a few people, so if you get onto steep slopes today, think about the consequences
should you go for a ride. Today’s increasing
winds may create a few fresh drifts that will be sensitive, so as usual, avoid any
of the steeper terrain with new or old drifts of wind blown snow. Also keep in mind that there have been a few slides
the past three days that have broken into old snow on both sunny and shady
slopes. These slides have been up to 100’
wide, and 2-3’ deep. Today, there are still
a few isolated places where you could trigger a deeper slide.
Today’s other avalanche problem will be wet
slides. The warming temperatures and occasional
sun will heat the snow surface on steep, sunny slopes, and wet sluffs will be
easy to trigger. With periods of thin cloud
cover, the snow surface on may also heat up mid and lower elevation shady
slopes, so be alert for damp and sloppy snow on the shady aspects, too.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger is MODERATE today on any
steep slopes with new or old drifts of wind blown snow. With
daytime heating, the danger will increase to MODERATE
on steep, sunny slopes, and possibly the mid and low elevation shady slopes.
Mountain Weather:
A rapidly approaching Pacific storm system will bring snow to the area this
evening. Today, skies will be mostly
cloudy with periods of filtered sunshine.
The southwesterly ridgetop winds will increase into the 20 to 30 mph
range. Highs today will be near 30 at
10,000’ and 40 at 8,000’. Tonight’s fast moving storm should drop one final
shot of powder, about 6 to 12”, before moving east on Sunday. Drier air will move in late Sunday, and high
pressure will dominate the weather this week.
Click here for the National
Weather Service graphic Forecast.
Announcements:
Click here to check out our new online avalanche
encyclopedia.
Early birds and snow
geeks can catch our 6AM report at 364-1591.
You can find our mountain
weather forecast here
by about noon each day.
Click HERE for a text only version of the avalanche advisory.
To
have this advisory automatically e-mailed to you each day, click HERE.
UDOT also has a highway avalanche control work
hotline for Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood, and
The
Wasatch Powderbird Guides didn’t get out yesterday and today they will fly in
Mineral, Cardiff, Days, Silver, Grizzly, White Pine, and American Fork. 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.
Brett Kobernik will update this advisory by 7:30 Sunday morning. Thanks for calling.