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
Monday,
April 10, 2006 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with
the
Current Conditions:
Skies are partly to mostly
cloudy ahead of the next weak two pronged storm. Overnight lows again remained
warm with the freezing line at around 9500’.
Moderate to strong south to southwesterly winds and radiational cooling
will drop a superficial refreeze down to about 8000’, but expect breakable
crust and then mank with any heating. The only dry snow can be
found on high north above 10,000’.
Recent Avalanche Activity & Snowpack Discussion:
Wet activity followed the
standard pattern yesterday with point releases and wet ‘push-alanches’
increasing with daytime heating. In
lower Deer Creek near Box Elder, a snowmachiner got a collapse and fracture of
a saturated wet slab on a southeast facing slope. The saturated snow at the lower elevations
sorely needs some cooler temps to lock up and gain strength through the diurnal
melt freeze process. Exercise caution if
traveling through mid and low elevation slopes that are becoming unsupportable.
The strong southerly winds
may have cross-loaded a pocket or two up high warranting some caution in the
more extreme terrain. The
new snow should bond quite well to the old snow surfaces, but if we get more
than expected, be alert to some sluffing and changing conditions.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger for wet sluffs and slabs today will remain at MODERATE at the mid and low elevations. Give wide berth to weakening cornices and
expanding glide cracks.
Mountain Weather:
Behind the cold front,
8000’ highs should only reach into the mid-40’s today with 10,000’ temps
dropping to the low 20’s. The southwest
winds will blow 20-30 mph this morning, only to lose steam as they veer to the
west by midday. We’ll see 1-3” today and
then another 2-4” tonight before we’re back into a warming trend. The longer range models bring a storm through
Friday night with another one on Monday.
Announcements:
The second annual “Beacon and Eggs” contests are
in full swing, with BIG prizes to the winners.
The next big event is next Saturday at Snowbird. 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 get out yesterday and are unlikely to fly
today. 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.
Brett Kobernik will update this
advisory by 7:30 Tuesday morning. Thanks for calling.