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
Wednesday,
January 03, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with
the
Current Conditions:
It’s going to be a
warm, blustery day, with winds and temperatures increasing ahead of a small
storm. Around midnight, the winds
shifted to more westerly direction and increased to around 15 mph with gusts to
30. The more exposed locations have
speeds of 35 mph, with gusts in the 40’s.
Temperatures are also rising, with many stations at their 24 hour high –
in the upper 20’s to low 30’s. Does the snowpack
seem a bit thin? Assuming a rough correlation
between snow water content and snow depth, a quick glance at a Snotel % of average map shows
many of the mountain stations are well below normal, confirming your
suspicions.
Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:
No new avalanche activity
was reported from the backcountry yesterday, with only one report of minor,
localized cracking of the old wind slabs.
Wind drifts or slabs,
both old and new, will be the main avalanche problem to watch out for
today. While most of the old wind drifts
seem lifeless, there may still be a few places on steep, upper elevation slopes
where a person could trigger one. As
winds increase today and tonight, a whole new batch of sensitive new wind drifts
may develop, most widespread on easterly facing slopes. These new drifts will be sitting on weak
facets or hard slick surfaces, making them easy to trigger.
With a small storm in the
forecast, carefully observe the snow surface conditions and general state of
the pack today. The snow pack contains multiple
layers of weak faceted
snow, with the weakest at the surface and in the upper pack. In some areas there is an interesting pattern
of stronger, deeper snow near the ridgelines, with weaker, shallower snow mid
slope. This could lead to off ridgeline
initiation of avalanches once we get some new snow.
Bottom Line for the
The snowpack is mostly
stable, and the avalanche danger is generally LOW. There
are isolated pockets of MODERATE danger on
steep slopes with new or old wind drifts.
The new drifts will be most widespread on slopes facing the east half of
the compass.
Mountain Weather:
An increasingly moist,
westerly flow will be over the area today, ahead of Thursday’s Pacific storm
system. The west to southwesterly winds
will increase through tonight, with ridgelines averages in the 20 to 25 mph
range by this afternoon. Speeds across
the most exposed terrain will average closer to 30 mph this afternoon with
gusts in the 40’s. Temperatures today
will reach the low 40’s at 8,000’ and near freezing at 10,000’. Light snowfall is possible tonight and
Thursday morning, with the heaviest snow around frontal passage late Thursday
afternoon into the evening. The short
duration of heavy snowfall should result in only moderate accumulations.
Announcements: Yesterday, the Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew in Mineral,
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.
Bruce Tremper will update this advisory by 7:30 on Thursday morning, and
thanks for calling.