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,
February 06, 2006 7:30am
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with
the
Current Conditions:
Skies are clear and winds, thankfully,
have become light except for the most exposed ridgelines, where they’re blowing
20mph from the northwest. With the ridge
building, temperatures are on the upswing, as some stations show an 8-13F
degree gain since midnight. Wind
affected snow seems spotty and exclusive to the highest ridgelines, but
otherwise with today’s bluebird, you’ll be riding into the mystic.
Avalanche Conditions:
Ski area control teams pulled out a few
localized soft slabs up to 12” deep on the steep north through east lee slopes. Other than some minor sluffing in the light
density new snow, folks in the backcountry couldn’t buy an avalanche. In the
Today’s wild card will be the rapid rise
in temperatures combined with the first day of intense solar radiation in over
a week. A rapid rise in temperatures,
especially on the first day, has a two-pronged effect on the mechanics of the
snowpack. First, it starts to make the
honey flow a bit faster by decreasing its viscosity, allowing the snow to ‘creep’
downhill a bit faster. This can unduly
strain the bonds between different layers of snow, particularly if a persistent
weak layer is present. Secondly, a
warmer slab softens up, effectively turning what used to be a cold sheet of
plywood into a warm floppy mattress. We’re
able to impact buried weak layers through this softening, which may lead to
increased probability of human triggering.
Cornices, the welded-in wind slabs from the past couple of days, and a
few isolated pockets of buried faceted snow may all be more sensitive
today.
Just like clockwork, watch for wet point
release avalanches on the sun exposed slopes with daytime heating.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger for wet avalanches will rise to CONSIDERABLE
today on the steep east, south, and west facing slopes with daytime
heating. Natural and human triggered
avalanches in the wet snow will leave decent debris piles in the steep confined
terrain. While much of the terrain will
have a mostly LOW
danger, pockets of MODERATE exist due to
the rapid warming accentuating the sensitivity for triggering cornices, the
welded-in wind slabs from the past couple days, and a few isolated pockets of buried
faceted snow.
Mountain Weather:
About as good as it gets. Sunny
skies, light winds, and moderate temperatures.
8000’ highs will reach into the mid-thirties while 10,000’ temps rise
into the mid-twenties. High pressure
builds for most of the week with a possible storm next weekend.
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, but will head to AF, White
Pine, the Sessions, and Cascade today.
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.
I will update
this advisory by 7:30 Tuesday morning. Thanks for calling.