Wasatch Cache National Forest
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 Salt Lake County.

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AVALANCHE ADVISORY

Sunday, February 11, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Sunday, February 11, 2007 and it’s 7:30 in the morning.

I’ve issued an AVALANCHE WARNING for the mountains of northern Utah. Heavy snowfall and moderate to strong winds overnight with continued accumulations today will produce unstable avalanche conditions with natural avalanches expected. Avoid being on or underneath steep slopes.

Current Conditions:

Heavy snowfall coming in on a west to southwest flow favoring the Provo, Ogden, and Park City produced 6-12” in the last 12 hours with water numbers in the .7”-1.4” range. Temperatures remained warm in the upper twenties to low thirties with an average rain/snow line at 7500’. The winds averaged 20-30mph along the higher ridgelines most of the night, but have since calmed to less than 20mph.

Snowpack and Avalanche Conditions:

The sheer amount of water weight in the last 12 hours, the at-times snowfall rates of 2-3” of snow/hour and the expectation of another half inch to inch of water weight will easily snap the rubberband of our hapless snowpack. The new snow is falling on a variety of old snow surfaces, but will be enough to step down into some of the weakest sugary faceted snow we’ve seen in years. The higher snow and water numbers impacted the areas with a weaker snowpack, consequently, the danger may be even more pronounced outside the periphery of the Cottonwood Canyons. The high rain/snow line will produce wet avalanching and be more pronounced on the shady mid and low elevation slopes.  They'll have the potential to gouge to the ground and pile up sizeable debris piles.  Ice climbing should be avoided and even snowshoers should avoid walking in terrain adjacent to steeper slopes.

Bottom Line for the Salt Lake, Park City, Provo and Ogden area mountains:

The danger for the Salt Lake, Park City, Provo, and Ogden area mountains is HIGH. Natural and human triggered avalanches are likely. Those without good route finding or avalanche skills should avoid the backcountry.

Mountain Weather:

We’ll see a bit of a break in the action this morning, but the next wave of moisture should bring an additional 4-8” mid-morning through late tonight. Temperatures will be in the low to mid-twenties at 10,000’ and mid-thirties at 8000’. The west to southwest winds will blow 20-25mph along the higher ridges. A cold front will impact the area late this afternoon with veering winds and dropping temperatures.

Announcements:

Yesterday, the Wasatch Powderbird Guides did not fly and are unlikely to get out today. With questions regarding their areas of operation call 742-2800.

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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.
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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.

I will update this advisory by 7:30 on Monday morning, and thanks for calling.