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
Thursday,
March 30, 2006 7:30 am
Good morning, this is
Current Conditions:
Wow, it’s been quite a few
days—actually quite a month. March is
historically the snowiest month of the year and this March has been one of the
snowiest in memory. The latest storm
totaled over 30 inches in the high elevations of the Cottonwood Canyons and 20
inches in most other areas. Snow
continued late yesterday evening with 7 inches of 7 percent water weight snow
through most of the
Recent Avalanche Activity & Snowpack Discussion:
Problem #1:
Wind slabs
Yesterday morning control work at all the ski resorts produced a widespread
cycle of sensitive, soft slab avalanches from the high precipitation rates
overnight. In the backcountry, most
folks could find sensitive soft slabs along the upper elevation ridges where
the wind had drifted it onto steep slopes.
(Photos)
and (Profiles). Most of the folks who were out in the
backcountry yesterday were pretty cagy and no one got tangled up in any of
these, as far as we know. The new snow
instabilities seemed to have settled out quite a bit during the day. With up to 7 inches of new snow early last
night, I expect that you will continue to find a few sensitive soft slabs
today, mostly along the upper elevation ridges.
As always, you should avoid steep slopes with recent wind drifts.
Problem #2:
Wet Slides
Yesterday, the strong spring
sun poked through the clouds enough to create some damp snow on the sun exposed
slopes. Some of the lower elevation
slopes sluffed out during the day, such as the
Y-couloir in Little Cottonwood Canyon. (photos)
Bottom Line:
There is a continued CONSIDERABLE danger of human triggered
avalanches on any steep slope with recent deposits of wind drifted snow, which
you will find mostly along the upper elevation ridges. There is a MODERATE danger on non-wind drifted slopes. The danger of damp to wet avalanches will
also rise to CONSIDERABLE
on the steep, sun exposed slopes if the sun pokes through enough to heat make
the snow damp or soggy.
Mountain Weather:
Today will be a rest day before we get yet another storm
for the weekend and then another larger storm for Monday through Thursday. The legendary winter continues…. Today, we should
have enough lingering, low level moisture to keep some clouds, fog and perhaps
a few snowflakes this morning. Daytime
heating will kick up some shallow convective cells. Still I think the strong spring sun will
shine through the clouds at times and get progressively more sunny and warm as
the day progresses. Ridge top temperatures
will start out in the mid teens this morning and warm to the mid 20’s by afternoon. Ridge top winds will blow 20 mph from the
northwest this morning but drop to around 10 mph by afternoon. Down at 8,000’ the day time high will get up
into the mid 30’s. Tonight, we should
have some high clouds. On Friday, the
high clouds will lower throughout the day and ridge top winds will pick up and
blow hard from the southwest on Friday night with a quick-hitting storm for
Saturday and early Sunday.
For the extended forecast, we have another storm that looks remarkably like the
last one for Monday through about Thursday.
Announcements:
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 did not fly yesterday and will probably not fly
today. If they can get out, they will be in Mineral,
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 Friday morning. Thanks for calling.