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
Tuesday,
February 27, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with
the
AN AVALANCHE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE
MOUNTAINS OF
Current Conditions:
Winds picked up
overnight from the southwest and are gusting to near 30 at the mid elevation
ridges and around 60 at the higher locations.
Temperatures are in the low to mid 20s in the 8 to 10,000 foot range. Snow is starting to move into mountain
locations mainly north of I-80 currently.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
There was no shortage
of avalanche activity from yesterday with both natural and human triggered
avalanches. Most of the natural activity
happened early Monday morning. Notable
slides included one in Silver Fork that was near 4 feet deep and 300 feet wide,
one east of
Avalanche control work
produced results within the new snow yesterday and at least one slide that
relates to backcountry conditions quite well.
Snow safety workers produced an avalanche 4 to 5 feet deep in MacDonald’s
Draw with one shot from an avalauncher to protect residential
housing below the slope. (PHOTO) (Click on the photos link on the left for a
few more shots from Monday.)
One more avalanche
that you should take note of was remotely triggered by skiers returning to
Mineral Fork in Big Cottonwood for a second day. The avalanche released 3 feet deep and around
200 feet wide taking out their tracks from the previous day.
The common theme with
slides breaking into old snow is a northeast aspect above about 8500 feet.
The first thing you
need to watch for today if you are venturing into the backcountry is fresh
drifts from the current southwest winds.
This will load mostly east and northeast facing slopes but the winds are
quite strong even at lower elevations and the mountainous terrain will surely
channel them in many different directions.
This means keep an eye out on all slopes for recent drifting.
The next thing you
need to be concerned with is the winds and new snow overloading the deeper weak
layers. North, northeast and east facing
slopes are the most suspect but watch for large deposits of snow on any slope
that has weak underlying snow. These
slides are quite a bit larger then the new snow avalanches
and have much greater consequences if you are caught in one. Experts are still taking a conservative
approach to recreation in the backcountry.
Bottom Line for the
The avalanche danger
is on the rise today. Currently, many
slopes have a CONSIDERABLE
danger but they will quickly go to a HIGH danger especially on
north through south east facing slopes.
Those without expert level route finding skills should avoid backcountry
travel today.
Mountain Weather:
Strong southwest winds
will continue for a good portion of the day and we’re expecting 6 to 12 inches
of snow in most locations with more possible in the Cottonwoods. Around an inch of water weight is expected to
be added to the snowpack. Mountain
temperatures will be in the upper teens to low 20s. It looks like we’ll see chances for snow over
the next few days.
Announcements:
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides didn’t get out yesterday and will be
grounded today due to weather. 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 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.
Evelyn Lees will update this advisory by 7:30 on Wednesday morning, and
thanks for calling.