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
Friday,
February 09, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with
the
Thanks to everyone who showed up at Brewvies for the fundraising movie
last night. It was a packed house and
sounds like everyone enjoyed the evening.
We’re
unveiling the new look to our avalanche advisory today thanks to the design
work by
Current Conditions:
Yesterday temperatures
cooled about 10 degrees compared to the day before. However, mild temperatures continue in the
mountains. While overnight temperatures
were below freezing along the upper elevation ridges, temperatures still were
above freezing along the 8000 foot ridges.
Wind directions vary greatly from station to station this morning but
are generally from the southwest in the 5 to 10 mph range gusting into the 20s
and 30s at the most exposed locations.
Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:
Very weak faceted snow
continues to plague our snowpack. This
weakness is buried under a wind slab in many locations that formed last weekend
and is waiting to be buried in other locations.
This produced numerous human triggered as well as a few natural
avalanches. Some of these avalanches
were quite large and unsurvivable if someone were caught. This trend will continue especially as we add
more snow which we should see happen somewhat starting today through the
weekend.
The lack of snow this
season breeds strong “powder fever” which makes us go against our better judgment
sometimes. If we do start adding snow it’ll
be prudent to play things very conservative by staying on lower angle slopes.
For today there are lingering
spots that could avalanche in areas that received a new wind load last weekend. These are mainly on mid
to upper elevation slopes on north through southeast facing aspects. Remember the mountain terrain channels wind
in various directions so these slabs may not be limited to just those aspects.
Bottom Line for the
A MODERATE
danger exists on slopes approaching 35 degrees or steeper that have had
deposits of wind drifted snow from last weekend. These are tricky conditions since not all
slopes have this condition and obvious clues to avalanching may not be present.
Mountain Weather:
We’re under a moist
westerly flow today through the weekend that should produce snow. Today and tonight snow showers will mainly be
in the more northern portion of the state with snow levels around 8000 feet. Today we’ll see cloudy skies with high
temperatures along the 9000 and 10,000 foot ridges in the upper 20s and winds from
the southwest in the 5 to 10 mph range gusting into the 20s and 30s at the most
exposed locations. Winds increase a bit
tonight. The best chance for snow is Saturday
into Sunday. Weather models are showing quite
high water amounts through this period and even if we cut those in half we
still are looking at around an inch of water fairly evenly distributed
throughout the mountains. If this
happens avalanche conditions will get interesting.
Announcements:
Yesterday, the Wasatch Powderbird Guides did not fly, and they probably
won’t fly again today. With questions
regarding their areas of operation call 742-2800.
Listen to the
advisory. Try our new streaming audio or
podcasts
UDOT highway avalanche
control work info can be found HERE
or by calling (801)
975-4838.
Our statewide tollfree line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, 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.
Evelyn Lees will update this advisory by 7:30 on Saturday morning, and
thanks for calling.