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,
January 08, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with
the
Current Conditions:
A warm front has given
us mostly cloudy skies and some localized misting in the mountains this morning
along with a rapid rise in temps. Temperatures
warmed dramatically the last 24 hours and are up fifteen to twenty degrees into
the high teens and low twenties. Northwest
winds picked up again overnight and blowing 40-60mph along the high
ridges. The wind
damage has been tremendous enough to consider changing our catchphrase from
‘Greatest snow on earth’ to ‘
Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:
The cold temps,
ferocity of winds, and uneven distribution of wind slabs kept things in check
yesterday. Only minor collapsing was
reported in mid-White Pine of Little Cottonwood with nothing else to report
from the backcountry. Ski area control
teams reported the hard wind slabs as being stubborn and non-reactive with the
most interesting a 2’ deep 120’ wide avalanche on a north east aspect near
11,000’ in upper Little Cottonwood. It ran
naturally on Saturday. One observer in
upper Mill Creek noted a slide breaking into old faceted snow in upper
Alexander Basin on a northeast facing slope at about 9600’. It was apparently triggered by another
natural from above cascading over a cliff-band.
Continued winds will
produce a few more drifts today, but they should be minor in scope. The other player is the rapid rise in
temperatures, which can accentuate the ‘trigger-ability’ of previously locked
up wind drifts by softening the slab and nudging up the creep rate on the
steeper slopes. It’s all conjecture, but
something to look into if you’re at home or the office and not skiing or riding
the coral. With stellars being the most
persistent ‘non-persistent’ weak layer under the drifts, it would be worth
doing a few snowpits
if you are getting out today.
Bottom Line for the
The danger is MODERATE on all recently wind drifted slopes steeper than
about 35 degrees. Non wind affected slopes will have a LOW
danger.
Mountain Weather:
Building high pressure
should thin out the mostly cloudy skies by the afternoon and the northwesterly
winds will slowly drop off to a more ‘reasonable’ 25-30mph. Temps continue to rise to the mid to upper
twenties. Although the models seem to
wobble around on some of the details, it does look like a cold and sustained
system for Thursday through Saturday and my theory is that it is about time.
Announcements:
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides were grounded due to weather yesterday and
if they can get out today, will try to fly in AF and Snake Creek.
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, and
thanks for calling.