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,
March 18, 2006 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with
the
Current Conditions:
Winter continues. The mountains received another shot of light
density snow early last night putting down about 6 inches in the
Recent Avalanche Activity & Snowpack Discussion:
Avalanche activity from
Friday included small and manageable fresh wind slabs from slope cuts. This was a fairly widespread theme from
observers yesterday. Most slides were
under 40 feet wide and 4-8 inches deep with a couple up to a foot deep. These were mainly confined to the upper
ridgelines. Lower elevations also had
some natural wet activity. Observers
noted that some steep chutes and terrain traps had spooged
out late in the day.
For today, yet again our
main concern will be wind drifted snow that may crack out under the weight of a
person. The moderate wind speeds coupled
with last nights snow may have formed some drifts again along the ridges. Also, yesterday’s drifts are less then 24
hours old so it may be possible to still trigger one of these under the fresh
snow making a deeper avalanche. You will
find these wind slabs mainly along the ridges on northwest through east facing
slopes.
With warmer daytime
temperatures this time of the season we always need to watch for damp and wet
activity especially at lower elevations.
Also today, upper elevation southerly slopes must be watched if there
are any periods of clearing during the day that may rapidly heat the snow. Any
new snow that we receive this time of the season is very sensitive to warming
especially the first time it becomes damp.
Bottom Line:
A MODERATE danger exists on slopes steeper then 35 degrees with
recent deposits of wind drifted snow.
The danger of wet avalanche activity will also rise to MODERATE as temperatures warm up during the day.
Mountain Weather:
Wind speeds have dramatically decreased over the last few hours and
should stay in the 5 to 15 mph range from the south for most of the day
today. Ridgetop temperatures will again
be in the mid 20s and we could see snow showers during the day today along with
mostly cloudy skies. Snow should start
to fall more consistently tonight and continue through most of Sunday. This system is looking somewhat better then
it was yesterday and it now looks like we could see 10 to 14 inches of snow be
Sunday evening. Lower elevations and the
valleys should get a good shot of snow out of this system as well. Another storm is still shaping up for mid
week.
Announcements:
Here is a great link to a web site on avalanche beacon information, created by
a person who did independent research and testing of avalanche beacons. http://beaconreviews.com
Early birds and snow geeks can catch our 6AM report at 364-1591.
Click here to check out our new online avalanche
encyclopedia.
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 were grounded due to weather yesterday and today,
weather permitting, they’ll be in Cardiff, Days, Silver, 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.
Drew Hardesty will update this
advisory by 7:30 Sunday morning. Thanks for calling.