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,
April 08, 2006 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with
the
Current Conditions:
Under clear skies,
temperatures are hovering right around freezing at the 9 and 10,000’ levels this
morning. Winds are from a southerly
direction, around 20 mph, with gusts in the 30’s to 50’s at the most exposed
locations. The clear skies produced a
good surface refreeze, so most slopes are crusted early this morning, but will
rapidly become wet and sloppy with daytime heating. While there is still some dry snow in the
upper elevation, northerly facing terrain, the snow on
many slopes was sculpted into a checkerboard of wind
drifts during the storm.
Recent Avalanche Activity & Snowpack Discussion:
Yesterday, avalanche
control work for the highways and ski resorts was a mixed bag - explosives
produced many class 2 and class 3 avalanches, including runs in Stairs, Circle
All, Coal Pit and White Pine Chute, but it must also be noted there were many
shots in the backcountry with no results.
While explosives and air blasts were the most effective control methods,
the snow was also sensitive to ski cuts, especially in the morning. Heating yesterday resulted in several
natural, wet loose sluffs. Check out the
photo galleries by Bob
and Bruce.
For today, I think most of
the storm snow instabilities will have settled out and strengthened. However, the current strong winds are
creating a new batch of drifts at the mid and upper elevations that a person
could trigger, which could then step down into storm snow for a much deeper
slide. So continue to use caution when
approaching any slope of about 35 degrees or steeper. Cornices are huge and ready to break in some
areas, so stay well back from the corniced ridge line edges.
The most widespread problem
today will be wet snow activity.
Carefully watch the balance between the sun, thin clouds, wind and
temperatures. The snow will definitely
get warm enough for people to trigger wet loose sluffs on steep slopes,
including northerly facing slopes. But
if the sun comes out and the winds drop off at the same time, there is the potential
for spontaneous wet slides to occur on all aspects. Any of these wet slides could entrain snow,
resulting in big debris piles, and will be most dangerous where confined to
gullies and other terrain traps.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger today is MODERATE on upper elevation
slopes, steeper than about 35 degrees, especially the north and easterly facing
slopes and those with fresh drifts of wind blown snow. The avalanche danger will rapidly rise to MODERATE on all steep slopes with daytime heating, with
human triggered wet sluffs possible. If
the sun comes out and the winds decrease at the same time, the danger may rise
to considerable for wet, loose
slides.
Mountain Weather:
A weak dry storm will bring
variable cloudiness to the area today and tonight. Temperatures will be in the upper 40’s at
8,000’ and in the mid 30’s at 10,000’.
The southerly winds, which are strong across the highest peaks this
morning, will gradually decrease this afternoon, to less than 20 mph. Partly cloudy skies and
even warmer Sunday and Sunday night.
Then a stronger cold front will bring snow on Monday, with 5 to 10”
possible. A series of disturbances will
continue to affect northern
Announcements:
The second annual “Beacon
and Eggs”
contests are in full swing, with BIG prizes to the winners. Contests are today, April 8th, at Solitude
and on April 15th at Snowbird. This year there will also be a finals contest at
Snowbird on April 22nd. For
more information, go to http://www.snowbird.com/events/events/beaconandeggs.html
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 today if they can fly
will be in Cardiff, Days, Silver, White Pine and American Fork. For more info, call 742-2800.
Special announcement:
The
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.