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
“keeping
you on top”
AVALANCHE ADVISORY
Listen to the
advisory. Try our new streaming audio or
podcasts
Our new,
state wide tollfree hotline is 1-888-999-4019.
(For early morning detailed avalanche activity report hit option 8)
For a list of avalanche
classes, click HERE
For our classic text
advisory click HERE.
To sign up
for automated e-mails of our graphical advisory click HERE
Friday,
December 08, 2006 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with
the
Current Conditions:
Overnight, ridgetop
temperatures remained in the upper 20s while ridgetop winds shifted to the
south and picked up slightly but still just blowing around 10 mph with gusts
into the 20s at the most exposed locations.
Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:
It’s another day
without much to talk about as far as the snowpack is concerned. Weakening surface snow; more areas becoming
unsupportable; potential persistent weakness; blah blah blah. Unfortunately, we will need to pay attention
to this snow for a while after it gets covered up. We may not see immediate results after the
next snow storms but we know that this current snow is a major red flag. By Monday we could have a slab sitting
on top of our weak snow. Once this weak
snow is buried, just knowing it’s there is enough to demand a VERY cautious
approach to steep terrain. (Click
here for some field observations)
It is pretty hard to
find any snow that will crack and propagate right now. The only place this may happen would be in
wind affected terrain along the ridges where a small wind slab may crack. This poses very little threat. Sluffing can be a small issue as well. Yesterday, I watched my partner Evelyn ski
through a chute where the loose faceted snow was sluffing almost completely
covering her tracks. This could
potentially knock you over but there’s little chance for burial.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger
is mostly LOW today.
Low danger does not mean no danger. There may be a few lingering wind slabs up high
and you can also get a few sluffs going on the steeper northerly facing slopes
today.
Mountain Weather:
The upper level high
pressure ridge starts to move east this afternoon so skies will remain mostly
clear in the mean time. Ridgetop
temperatures will be in the mid to upper 30s with southwest winds in the 10 to
20 mph range gusting into the 30s at the most exposed locations.
A series of
progressively stronger storms starts to affect our area Saturday. The first won’t produce much snow but the
next two look like better chances.
Announcements:
We appreciate any
snowpack and avalanche observations you have, so please leave us a message at
(801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at [email protected]. (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.
Evelyn Lees will
update this advisory by 7:30 on Saturday morning.