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
Saturday,
December 09, 2006 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with
the
Current Conditions:
The strong ridge that
has dominated our weather is finally moving to the east today, and a very weak
disturbance has brought partly cloudy skies to the area. The southerly winds have increased along the
ridges into the 20 to 25 mph range with gusts into the 30’s. The highest peaks have gusts in the 40’s and
50’s. The temperature inversion is disappearing
in the mountains, with the higher elevations in the 20’s, and the 8,000’ terrain
in the 30’s. There are good riding
conditions in loud powder and surface hoar on untracked slopes, but the sugary
snowpack is becoming unsupportable in shallow areas and around rocks.
Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:
The stronger winds will find
some snow to move around today, so expect a few new shallow wind drifts or wind
crusts along the higher ridgelines and around terrain features. Sluffing is continuing on the steep, shady
slopes, and may be more pronounced today in the wind drifted areas.
In the deeper snowpack areas there
is a stronger, mid pack slab, but where the pack is shallow, it’s almost fun to
revel in the wide variety of faceted snow
(click PLAY on the diagram for a cool demo).
Stick your ski pole handle in, do a hand pit – nothing but loose,
rotting snow as deep as the shovel can dig.
We’re particularly focused on the surface snow, where the surface hoar
and near surface facets will probably be the first weak layer to fail with new
snow. With snow in the forecast, the
avalanche danger will rise during the next few days, and more conservative travel
and route finding will become important.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger
is mostly LOW, and there are only a few isolated places
where a person could trigger a slide today.
Look for and avoid any new or old wind drifts, and be prepared for sluffing
on steep, shady slopes and in some wind drifted areas.
Mountain Weather:
A series of
progressively stronger Pacific weather disturbances will cross northern
Announcements:
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
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.
Drew Hardesty will
update this advisory by 7:30 on Sunday morning.