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
Monday,
December 18, 2006 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with
the
Current Conditions:
Now that the white
dust has settled and the canopy of stars blankets the early morning Wasatch,
let’s take a look at storm totals across the range. The Logan and Ogden mountains picked up 4-6”,
the
Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:
Most of our observers prudently
stayed in sheltered, low angle terrain, but avalanche control teams picked off
numerous soft slabs up to a foot deep and 100’ wide. They were most sensitive in the morning with
a 20-30mph easterly wind blowing, but by about midday, most of the
instabilities had settled out. Instabilities
like these are manageable, and like a novice poker player, show
their hand early on the first go-around.
Here are a couple
pieces of good news: time, settlement
and the lack of wind will have fostered a great increase in stability of the new
snow and all but a few of the remaining drifts will have settled out. Secondly, the slow addition of weight and
bulk to the snowpack will likely help to strengthen some of the buried faceted
snow in the mid and lower red-light districts of the snowpack. It’ll be something to monitor nonetheless.
If you’re heading out
today, take time to work into the steeper terrain. Drop cornices, jump on test slopes, move from
island of safety to island of safety, and do a couple shovel shear
or tap tests to get a feel for the bonding of the newer snow.
Bottom Line for the
Most terrain has a LOW avalanche
danger. Steep wind drifted slopes will have
a MODERATE danger where human triggered avalanches
will still be possible. These areas are
more pronounced on upper elevation southwest through north and northeast facing terrain. Isolated steep areas will still have some
sluff potential as well.
The
Mountain Weather:
Skies are clear with
expected highs in the teens today. With
the closed Low centered over the AZ/CA border, expect easterly winds to blow
20mph along the ridgelines. The Low is
the main feature affecting the southwest, and is forecast to move easterly
today and tomorrow, kicking a good amount of moisture into southern
Announcements:
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides will be in American Fork and Snake Creek
today.
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.
Brett Kobernik will
update this advisory by 7:30 on Tuesday morning.