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,
April 13, 2006 7:30 am
Good morning, this is
Current Conditions:
In the mountains this
morning, hot desert winds feel like someone turned on a giant hair dryer. This morning’s temperatures are above
freezing even on the highest peaks with 8,000’ temperatures in the mid 40’s. This is 7 degrees warmer than yesterday
morning. Usually, the radiational
cooling from a clear sky will freeze the snow surface even with above freezing
air temperatures, but the strong, warm wind cancels everything out. In other words, any refreeze this morning
will probably be eggshell thin and short lived.
Ridge top winds are still blowing 35 from the southwest with gusts in
the 50’s.
Recent Avalanche Activity & Snowpack Discussion:
Yesterday, people were able
to trigger some localized wind slabs along the upper elevation ridges on north
through east facing slopes. Most of
these were 6 inches to a foot deep.
Also, there was some localized wet point-release sluffs yesterday at
lower and mid elevations as the snow heated up in the sun. (See
PHOTOS of yesterday’s conditions)
Today, we have two
avalanche problems:
Wet
avalanches:
With today’s temperatures
well above freezing and a full 7 degrees warmer than yesterday, you can expect
that the wet avalanche activity to increase and move up in elevation. You should plan to be off of and out from
underneath any steep slopes by noon and you should avoid any slopes where you
are sinking into wet snow. Also,
conditions like this often release glide avalanches,
so you should avoid crossing under slopes with glide cracks. For instance today and Friday are definitely
not the days to be in places like Stairs Gulch, or under the glide cracks in Broads
Fork or Mill B South.
Wind slabs
Yesterday’s strong winds from
the southwest blew the two inches of new snow into localized wind drifts along
the upper elevation ridges. Yesterday,
it was easy to crack out these fresh wind slabs. Luckily, they were easy to see because they
are chalky white in contrast to the large-grained, somewhat dust-coated, old
corn snow. As always, you should avoid
any steep slope with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.
Bottom Line:
The danger from wet avalanches is MODERATE this morning,
and will increase to CONSIDERABLE
with day time heating on any slope where you are sinking into wet snow. There is also a MODERATE
danger of wind slabs along the upper elevation ridges, mostly on north through
east facing slopes.
Mountain Weather:
It will be warm and windy
today and Friday. Ridge top temperatures
will be around 40 degrees with ridge top winds from the southwest decreasing
from 30 mph this morning to 20 mph by mid day, then increase again to 30 mph by
tonight. Down at 8,000’ the temperature will
rise to a sweltering 55 degrees. Skies
should be clear today and for most of Friday.
Extended
forecast:
We have clouds and a few
inches of snow this weekend, starting Friday night. Then, we have a strong cold front with
possibly significant snow for Monday and Tuesday, which should plunge our ridge
top temperatures down to around 10 degrees.
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. If they do, they will be in
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.
I will update this advisory by
7:30 Friday morning. Thanks for calling.