Wasatch Cache National Forest
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 Salt Lake County.

AVALANCHE ADVISORY

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 7:30am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Tuesday, February 14, 2006, and it’s about 7:30 am.

A long time fundraiser for the Utah Avalanche Center, the Banff Mountain Film Festival is coming back to town February 21^st and 22^nd at Kingsbury Hall. Tickets will be available at Kingsbury Hall, Art-Tix, the Outdoor Rec Program at the U and REI. For more info, call 581-8516.

Current Conditions:

Winds blew from the west northwest overnight in the 20 mph range with gusts into the mid 30s along the ridgetops and near 50 mph at the highest locations. Ridgetop temperatures are in the low to mid 20s.

Avalanche Conditions:

It was another quiet day in the backcountry yesterday with only one minor avalanche to note. This was a glide avalanche in Broads Fork which is not surprising or uncommon for that area. (Click HERE for photos) Observations from Monday included some more wind drifting and lots of loose snow on the surface. This faceted snow on the surface will be our focus over the next few storms as this could produce a weak interface with the next layer of new snow.

For today the main concern will be the same as the last few days. We need to watch for stubborn wind slabs along the upper elevation ridgelines. The winds over the last week have formed numerous layers of wind slabs. They are variable in nature both in distribution and structure. The slabs that may release are quite pockety and may take you off guard with the otherwise benign avalanche conditions. Listen for hollow sounds as you travel over the snow indicating you may be on a hard wind slab. Watch for any fresh drifts that may have formed over the last 24 hrs.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger remains generally LOW today. You need to keep in mind that there maybe a few hard slabs that could release in the higher steep exposed terrain.

Mountain Weather:

We should be at the peak wind speeds for today and they should decrease into the 10 to 15 mph range from the west along the ridges. Ridgetop temperatures will start out in the low 20s and drop into the teens as the day goes on. Skies will start out partly cloudy with increasing cloud cover and a chance of snow flurries late this afternoon.

A decent storm will start to affect the area tonight but not really get going until Wednesday. This should be a 6 to 12 inch snow event from Ogden down to Provo with locally higher amounts in areas favored by a northwest flow. Very cold temperatures may activate lake effect snow. Snow densities should be quite light during this storm.

Announcements:

Click here to check out our new online avalanche encyclopedia.

Early birds and snow geeks can catch our 6AM report at 364-1591.

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 Provo canyons, which is updated as needed. 801-975-4838.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides did not get out on Monday and today, weather permitting, they will fly in Cardiff, Days, Silver, Mineral, American Fork and 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.

Evelyn Lees will update this advisory by 7:30 Wednesday morning. Thanks for calling.