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 28, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with
the
Current Conditions:
The storm is
officially a bust! Don’t get me wrong,
there’s still fresh powder to go out and enjoy but we won’t see the 20 to 30
inches which was originally possible.
Storm totals as of 6:30 this morning are 4 to 9 inches fairly evenly
distributed from the Provo mountains through the Salt Lake mountains and into
the Ogden area with a little less in the Park City areas. Snow tapered off overnight but has started
back up. Mountain temperatures are in
the upper teens to mid 20s and winds really dropped off overnight and are
currently from a northerly direction at less then 10 mph at most stations. If you haven’t been out in a while keep in
mind that you may find dirt and rocks under the new snow in some locations due
to our recent melt down.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
You had to stay out
late to see any avalanche activity on Tuesday which consisted of minor sluffing
within the new snow. A period of
convective weather produced thunder, lightning, some large graupel and heavier
density snow to start the storm out. This
bonded to the old snow surface quite well.
Lighter density snow followed in a period of high snowfall rates where a
person could initiate sluffing. Snow
tapered off mid evening which gave it some time to settle but has started again
with a period of 2 inches an hour from 5 to 6 am. (click the Photos
link on the left for some observations)
The main concern for
today will be within the new snow. People
may be able to initiate sluffing and if it’s on a sustained enough slope could
produce a small to medium sized pile of debris, maybe even enough to knock you
over. Also, you might find a small wind
drift that may crack along the higher ridgelines but this will be spotty at
best unless the winds pick up late today.
Bottom Line for the
The avalanche danger
is generally LOW this morning on most slopes. There is a pockety MODERATE danger
for sluffing of the new snow and the occasional wind drift along exposed
ridges.
Mountain Weather:
We’ll see periods of
snow during the day today with another 3 to 6 inches expected. Not much more snow is expected tonight into Thursday.
Winds will be northerly in the 5 to 10
mph range picking up late in the day into the 10 to 15 mph range gusting into
the 30s. Ridgetop temperatures will be
in the mid 20s. Thursday will be partly
cloudy with a small chance for snow in the morning along with slightly warmer temperatures
and continued northerly winds in the 10 to 20 mph range.
Announcements:
The Wasatch Powderbird
Guides didn’t fly yesterday and won’t today. For more info, call 742-2800.
The Canyons Professional Ski Partol Association is hosting a fundraiser
for the Friends of the
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.