Wasatch Cache National Forest
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 Salt Lake County.

“keeping you on top”

AVALANCHE ADVISORY

Tuesday, January 01, 2008  7:30 am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory.  Today is Tuesday, January 01, 2008 and it’s about 7:30 am.

Special Avalanche Advisory:

The Special Avalanche Advisory continues for the Western Uinta Mountains. Recent heavy snowfall and strong winds has overloaded a weak snowpack. A CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger exists and human triggered avalanches are probable on steep, upper elevation slopes.  For more statewide information, go to www.utahavalanchecenter.com or toll free 1-888-999-4019.

 

UDOT will close Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon this morning at just after 7 am while they conduct avalanche control work and they expect to reopen the roads between 8 and 8:30am.

 

Current Conditions:

The third avalanche fatality occurred on Monday when three snowmobilers were caught in an avalanche near Co-op creek in the Western Uintas.  Two were able to get out of the slide but one was buried and killed.  We will have more details on the accident soon.  (Preliminary Info)

 

Temperatures were chilly overnight dipping into the single digits or below zero at many mountain locations.  Wind speeds have backed way off and are gusting from the northwest only into the 30s at the highest locations.  Mid and lower elevations have very slow speeds.  A trace to a few inches of snow fell during the day on Monday with some drifting noted along the upper ridges.

 

Avalanche Discussion:

Looking at the Wasatch range, the snowpack settled into a more stable state on Monday compared to Sunday.  Sunday’s wind laden upside down natural avalanche producing snow yielded to a more right side up less sensitive structure on Monday.  A number of people noted some sensitive cornices that cracked and broke off but produced no avalanche activity.  While not many people trekked into the more exposed locations, most people noted that the recent drifts were not very sensitive.  A number of people felt comfortable about getting onto steeper slopes especially out of wind affected terrain.

 

We will want to watch out for recent wind drifts again today.  It appears that most of them will stay in place but it won’t hurt to avoid them if you can.  One thing to note is that we are going to see temperatures jump up around 20 degrees during the day today.  This is considered a rapid warming event.  What does this mean for the snowpack?  Snow is a viscous material.  It is more viscous at warmer temperatures just like motor oil.  The warmer temperatures today will accelerate the downhill creep of the snowpack.  This accelerated creep rate will play a game of “tug a war” between snow layers and potentially weaken bonds between the layers.  This is more pronounced with persistent weak layers such as faceted snow or surface hoar however with the recent wind event I would watch the wind drifted areas as well.  This process will be going on behind the scenes without much hint that it’s happening aside from southerly facing slopes probably becoming damp on the surface.

 

There is still an isolated chance that a person could trigger a slide that breaks into older snow in the Wasatch Range.  The warming event should be considered in this regard as well.



Bottom Line for the Ogden, Salt Lake, Park City and Provo area mountains:

The danger is MODERATE for triggering recent wind drifts and avalanches breaking into older snow.  You can find recent wind drifts on many aspects but most pronounced at the upper elevations.  Avalanches breaking into older snow are more likely on northwest, north and northeast facing slopes above around 9000 feet in elevation.  They are more likely in areas with a thinner snowpack as well.  Keep in mind that the Western Uintas have a higher avalanche danger with an overall weaker snowpack.

 

Mountain Weather: 

Temperatures go from below zero to near 30 degrees today.  Winds will be light from the northwest only gusting into the 20s and 30s at the highest locations.  We’ll see mostly clear skies today in the mountains.  High pressure remains into Wednesday then a series of storms starts to affect the area later in the week into the weekend.

 

Announcements:
UDOT will close Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon this morning at just after 7 am while they conduct avalanche control work and they expect to reopen the roads between 8 and 8:30am.

Today the Wasatch Powderbird Guides will fly in Cardiff, Days, Silver, Grizzly and American Fork.  For more information, call them at 801-742-2800.

 

For an avalanche education class list, updated 12/22/07, 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.

Evelyn Lees will update this advisory by 7:30 on Wednesday morning.