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
Thursday,
December 20, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Bruce Tremper with
the
Current Conditions:
With a
foot of light density snow, riding conditions were much improved
yesterday. 3 inches of higher density
snow fell overnight. With strong winds
and heavy snow today, expect slabby, deep snow, difficult trail breaking
conditions and poor visibility. Unless
you are an incurable avalanche geek, today would be a good day for last minute holiday
shopping.
Avalanche Discussion:
I have issued an
AVALANCHE WARNING for the mountains of northern and Central
Tuesday night, we had a foot of light density snow that came down fast and
furious with some density inversions in the new snow that people were able to
trigger in the morning, but they seemed to settle out later in the day.
Today, the winds will blow hard all day from the southwest 30-40 mph with
higher gusts and we should have about 8 inches of new snow this morning. Dense, windblown snow on top of the light
density snow from yesterday will create widespread areas of sensitive wind
slabs on most terrain above about 7,500’ in elevation. Some of these new-snow avalanches could step
down into deeper weak layers making much larger avalanches, especially in areas
where the total snowpack depth is less than 3 feet. After a break in the afternoon, a strong cold
front will arrive around dinner time which will give us another foot of snow
overnight and may exacerbate avalanche hazard for Friday.
Bottom Line for the
The
avalanche danger is HIGH on slopes steeper than 30 degrees, above about 7,500’ with recent
wind deposits. The danger is CONSIDERABE on slopes without recent wind deposits. The danger MODERATE on
slopes below 7,500’. People without
excellent avalanche skills should avoid the backcountry.
Mountain Weather:
We are expecting 4-8
inches of new snow this morning with strong winds from the southwest, 30-40 mph
with higher gusts. There will be a break
in the precipitation this afternoon but don’t be fooled. A strong cold front will arrive around dinner
time, possibly with lightning. Winds
will drop and we should pick up another 8-13 inches of snow overnight. Ridge top temperatures will be around 25
degrees today and will drop to 5 degrees by morning.
Announcements:
Little
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides will be not be flying
today.
For an avalanche education class list, click HERE.
If you want to get this avalanche advisory e-mailed to you daily click HERE.
The UAC has temporary job openings for doing avalanche outreach in more rural
areas. Click HERE for info.
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 our classic text
advisory click HERE.
If you’re getting out and see anything we should know about please let us
know. You can leave a message 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 Friday morning.