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
Friday,
April 14, 2006 7:30 am
Good morning, this is
Current Conditions:
Although the skies are clear
this morning, we should start to see high clouds soon and they should lower
throughout the day. Ridge top temperatures
are around freezing, which are a couple degrees colder this morning than
yesterday morning. Because the winds are
much calmer this morning than yesterday morning, a temperature inversion formed
in all the mountain valleys, where the temperatures are 10 degrees colder than
yesterday morning. Even though most of
the temperatures are still above freezing, combined with the clear sky and low
humidity, the bottom line is that the snow surface should be frozen and supportable
this morning at most aspects and elevations.
There is a 4-inch sun crust on south facing slopes. North facing slopes above 9,500’ are dry and
crusty with a breakable sun crust at lower elevations.
Recent Avalanche Activity & Snowpack Discussion:
Yesterday, the strong winds
kept wet avalanche activity to a minimum.
There was the usual round of point release wet sluffs in the afternoon
and one glide avalanche released off the steep, east-facing rock slabs in
Broads Fork either yesterday morning or the day before. (See
PHOTOS of yesterday’s conditions).
Glide cracks in Stairs Gulch continue to get larger and they could also
release any time.
Today, with the cooler
temperatures and clouds, wet avalanche activity should stay at a minimum, but
as always, you should avoid traveling under glide cracks, which you will find
in abundance in places like Stairs Gulch and Broad’s Fork.
Also, with continued winds
along the ridge tops, there are still some localized pockets of wind slabs
along the upper elevation ridges. As
always, you should avoid steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.
Bottom Line:
The overall avalanche danger today will be LOW but there is a MODERATE danger of glide avalanches off steep rock slabs and
some very localized, lingering wet avalanche potential at lower elevations. There is also a MODERATE
danger of wind slabs along the upper elevation ridges, mostly on north through
east facing slopes.
Mountain Weather:
High clouds should arrive
this morning and continue to lower throughout the day. By afternoon, we should have light showers in
the mountains with the rain-snow line starting out up around 9,500’ and lower
to around 7,500’ by tonight. We should
get about 4 inches of new snow by Saturday morning, with lingering showers on
Saturday. Ridge top winds will blow 10-20
from the southwest and increase to around 30 mph by afternoon. Ridge top temperatures will slowly fall from
near freezing this morning to the mid 20’s by tonight. Down at 8,000’ the high should be in the 50’s
with sunshine this morning, but it should fall to below freezing overnight.
Extended
forecast:
Sunday looks partly cloudy
and then we have a strong cold front arriving for Monday and Tuesday, which
should give us up to a foot of new snow and drop ridge top temperatures down to
the mid teens. Snow should fall as low
as the benches.
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 flew briefly yesterday in American Fork and
Cardiff Fork. If they get out today, they will be in 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 Friday morning. Thanks for calling.