Wasatch Cache National Forest
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 Salt Lake County.

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AVALANCHE ADVISORY

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center. Today is Saturday, November 18, 2006 and it’s 7:30 in the morning.

Current Conditions:

Winter has stalled out off the northwest coast, with Utah left out of the action. This morning, the mild temperatures are in the mid to upper 20’s at most elevations. Winds are from the northwest, generally around 10 mph, with speeds in the low 20’s across the higher peaks. The snow on the sunny southerly and westerly facing slopes and at lower elevations is now crusted. There is descent settled powder on a dense base on upper elevation shady slopes. But the snow pack is shallow, less than 3 feet even up high, and you will be clipping rocks if you are not careful.

Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:

No avalanches, cracking or collapsing were reported yesterday, but very few people were out. The lack of activity does not mean the snowpack is completely stable. Steep, upper elevation shady slopes are still suspect because of the base layer of faceted crystals sitting on or near the ground. These sugary faceted crystals are called persistent because it is still possible to trigger slides on this weak layer days after a storm. Today, there are still a few places where you could trigger a slide to the ground, on steep, shady upper elevation slopes.

By using lower angle slopes, ridgelines, and the sunny aspects, there’s lots of terrain you can travel safely in today. And it is worth getting out this weekend to look at some the recent slides in places like Silver Fork (Click Here), Days (Click Here), Cardiff (Click here), or Grizzly Gulch (click here).

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger remains MODERATE on northwest, north, and northeast facing slopes above about 9,000’, steeper than about 35 degrees. While there are only localized places a person could trigger a slide, if you do, it will go to the ground. The lower elevation, southerly and westerly facing slopes that had no preexisting snow prior to last weekend’s storm have a LOW avalanche danger.

Mountain Weather:

A moist westerly flow will bring mostly cloudy skies, a few snow showers and warming temperatures to the mountains today. 10,000’ highs will be in the upper 20’s and 8,000’ highs near 40. Sunday, skies will be mostly clear, with mild temperatures and light southwesterly winds. Florida retirement weather arrives Monday, with 10,000’ highs in the mid to upper 40’s. So all eyes are on the potential Thanksgiving storm, but is very low confidence on any details due to disagreements between models and runs.

Announcements:

The next FUAC fundraiser will be at Brewvies. “The Anomaly” by TGR is playing on Dec 7^th, with two showings, at 7pm and 9pm. Advance tickets are available.

We appreciate any snowpack and avalanche observations, so please let us know by calling (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 on Sunday and thanks for calling.