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,
February 19, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Drew Hardesty with
the
We’ve had another tragic avalanche
fatality. A 17 year old was killed yesterday
in an out of bounds area adjacent to Snowbasin.
This makes three
Current Conditions:
Yesterday was the ninth
day in a row with human triggered avalanches and my money is on today being the
tenth. A quick hitting storm is moving
through this morning with 8-12” pretty evenly distributed across the
range. In the last couple of hours, the
snow has fallen at 2”/hr and densities are less than 10%. The winds remain moderate to strong out of
the west southwest along the exposed ridgelines, but are less than 15mph in
more protected areas. After the winds
shift northwesterly, they should drop off to a more reasonable 15mph. Temps are in the low to mid-twenties.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
It appears that two
other skiers were caught and carried in separate incidents in the
The new snow will
provide yet another layer of complexity to our patchwork quilt of avalanche problems
in the backcountry. The high snowfall
rates and gusty winds will lead to sensitive drifting and cracking in the new
snow, with drifts of up to 18” in exposed locations. They’ll be most pronounced along the north
and east facing steep slopes and breakovers and can be mitigated by safe ski
cuts and cornice drops. The additional
weight may reactivate some of the already slow-to-stabilize avalanche problems
of the past few days, again, most prominent on northwest through east through
southeast facing slopes.
When very experience
people are getting caught in avalanches, it should make those still on the
steep learning curve take a couple of steps back. When the avalanches are 2-4’ deep and a
couple hundred feet wide, often breaking out above you, well, you do the
math.
Bottom Line for the
The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE
on any slope over 35 degrees with fresh wind drifts. Shallow naturals are likely with the high
snowfall rates and human triggered avalanches will be probable with this kind
of sensitivity. The complexity, poor
structure, and size, and additional load will keep the danger CONSIDERABLE
for human triggered large avalanches into older snow on northwest through east
through southeast facing slopes.
Mountain Weather:
Northwesterly
flow-favored areas like the Cottonwoods may pick up another 3-5” this morning
while outlying areas may pick up another couple before turning showery by later
morning. The northwesterly winds should
be less than 20mph up high as temps drop to the mid-teens at 10,000’, and the
low twenties at 8000’. The weather will
improve through the early part of the week with a couple of colder storms for
late Thursday and the weekend.
Announcements:
Yesterday, the Wasatch Powderbird Guides didn’t get out yesterday and are
unlikely to fly today. With questions
regarding their areas of operation call 742-2800.
The Banff Mountain Film
Festival will be held at Kingsbury Hall next Tuesday and Wednesday, February 20
& 21st. Tickets are $7.50
per show and available at Kingsbury Hall, Art-Tix,
the Salt Lake and Sandy REI stores, and the Outdoor Recreation Program at the U
of U. Shows start at 7pm each
night. (CLICK FOR DETAILS)
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 all the great
snowpack and avalanche observations we’ve been getting, so keep leaving us
messages 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.