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
Saturday,
March 24, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with
the
Current Conditions:
Under clear skies,
temperatures at most elevations are well below freezing for the third morning in
a row – in the mid to upper 20’s. The northeasterly
winds are in the 5 to 15 mph range, with a few of the most exposed stations
having gusts to near 30 mph. The typical
spring turning, riding and snowshoeing conditions are very good, with isolated
powder on steep, northerly facing slopes above about 9,000’ and supportable
crusts on the other aspects. As the
crusts soften, it may just be some of the best corn of the year, and with precise,
Swiss-like timing, it’s possible to make a full day of it in the backcountry by
working aspect and slope angle.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
No new slab avalanches
were reported from the backcountry yesterday, though a few crusted slopes did
soften enough to get a collapse on the damp snow below. Push-a-lanches were possible on steep, sunny
slopes as the surface snow heated up and shallow, loose sluffs were easy to
trigger on the steep, shady slopes.
As you head into the
backcountry today, you’ll have to deal with the typical heat related wet snow problems,
just a bit trickier due to the some faceted layers. As usual, you want to be off the sunny slopes
before the snow heats up. If the snow is
becoming punchy, sloppy or the crusts “bendy”, it’s definitely too warm and you
need to immediately switch to a cooler aspect.
Corn
slabs are possible today, when what appears to be a solid, frozen crust fails
on a wet
layer beneath. So as you travel, monitor
the depth of the refreeze often by digging down or jabbing your pole handle into
the snow.
On the steep,
northerly facing slopes there remains an isolated chance that a person could
trigger a slab avalanche, in thinner snowpack area or shallow rocky area. So no matter where you travel today, continue
to use good, safe travel techniques of one at a time on any steep slope and
observe your partner from a safe place.
Bottom Line for the
The avalanche danger is
generally LOW this morning, and will rise to MODERATE on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with
daytime heating. The rising danger will
follow the sun – first on easterly facing slopes, then south and then west. Carefully monitor snow conditions, and get
off of and out from under steep sunny slopes as they heat up.
Mountain Weather:
A warm and mild
weekend is in store for northern
Announcements:
The Wasatch Powderbird
Guides were in Mineral,
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.
Drew Hardesty will update this advisory by 7:30 on Sunday morning, and
thanks for calling.