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
Sunday,
February 19, 2006 7:30am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with
the
A long time fundraiser for the
Current Conditions:
With the new snow that’s fallen in the
last 24 hrs and a few periods of gusty winds along the ridges, the avalanche
danger is on the rise. 24 hour snow
totals as of this morning are averaging around 6 inches from
Avalanche Conditions:
Sluffing was the main concern from Saturday
with no significant avalanche activity reported. The gusty winds did transport some snow
yesterday morning along the ridgetops but no one found any of these fresh
drifts to be very sensitive. (For more
information on the current snow pack click HERE).
For today our main concern will again be
sluffing and the possibility of a slab avalanche in wind affected terrain. With cold temperatures Wednesday’s snow has
been slow to settle and with the addition of more light density snow the sluffs
today have the potential to be quite large.
The few periods of wind over the last 24 hrs may have produced some
areas where a person could trigger a slab avalanche as well. This will be mainly confined to steep terrain
along the upper ridgelines on northwest through northeast facing slopes.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger is MODERATE on slopes
steeper then 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. Human triggered slab avalanches are
possible. The danger may rise to CONSIDERABLE
if snow totals and wind speeds are higher then forecasted.
Mountain Weather:
Today we’ll
see snow showers throughout the day with an additional 4 to 8 inches of snow possible
containing ¼” to ½” of water. Ridgetop
temperatures will remain cold in the single digits and ridgetop winds should
behave and stay in the 10 to 15 mph range along the ridges. Things should start to clear Monday morning
with continued cold temperatures.
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
Wasatch
Powderbirds did not get out on Saturday and probably won’t get out today but
will go to American Fork and the Sessions if possible. 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.