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
Wednesday,
March 21, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with
the
Current Conditions:
A cold front slowly
pushing through the area from the south has brought varying amounts of snow to
the mountains. The
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
The only avalanche
activity reported yesterday was a wet slab released with explosive control work
in the afternoon in mid Big Cottonwood.
It was on a southwest facing slope and broke to the ground.
The cooling
temperatures should just about end the recent wet avalanche activity as the
liquid water in the snowpack gradually freezes.
However, there are still a few isolated places where a person or a group
of people could trigger a slide on the layer of facets, especially where they
are still wet. Facets exist in the
snowpack on almost all aspects, and a slide would most likely be triggered in a
steep, rocky or shallow snowpack area.
The new snow should
bond well to the rough, old snow surface, but be alert for a few shallow, new
drifts along the windier ridgelines that might be sensitive to the weight of a
person.
Bottom Line for the
The avalanche danger
is MODERATE on slopes steeper than about 35
degrees, where there is an isolated chance of triggering a deep slide on the
weak facets that exist on almost all aspects.
Also, avoid the new drifts of wind blown snow on steep slopes, which
will be most common along the ridgelines.
Mountain Weather:
A slow moving cold
front will bring periods of snow this morning, before tapering off this
afternoon. South of I-80, the heaviest
snowfall should be over, with scattered showers expected to add a final inch or
two of snow today. The mountains north
of I-80 should have heavier snowfall this morning, with accumulations reaching
3 to 5” by afternoon. The brisk,
southerly ridgeline winds will taper off later today, decreasing into the 5 to
15 mph range and shifting to the northwest.
10,000’ temperatures will drop into the low 20’s, and 8,000’
temperatures will be in the low 30’s.
High pressure will build in across the region tonight, with clearing
skies and lows in the 20’s. A weak storm
is possible Friday, bringing a small chance for snow.
Announcements:
The Wasatch Powderbird
Guides didn’t get out yesterday and weather permitting, they will be flying 2
helicopters in the tri-canyon area today, in Cardiff, Days, Silver, Grizzly and
White Pine. For more info, call 742-2800.
The UAC and ACE are offering a day long Women’s Avalanche
Awareness class at Alta on March 22nd covering beacon use and basic
safe travel, terrain and snowpack information, for $30. For more details go to: www.altaarts.org.
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.