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,
January 19, 2008 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with
the
Current Conditions:
Under partly cloudy
skies, temperatures remain stuck in the single digits once again this morning,
though at least they’re on the plus side of zero. Winds have been blowing anywhere from the southwest
to northwest over the past 12 hours, with speeds of 25 to 35 mph across the
highest terrain, and gusts to 50. Off the
higher ridgelines, average speeds have been 10 to 15 mph. Cold, lazy flakes have been falling on and
off for the past 5 days, and have added up to 10 to 12 inches in the
Cottonwoods and 3 to 6” in the Park City and Ogden area mountains. Turning conditions are good in light powder
on most aspects and elevations, with some wind damage in open terrain.
Avalanche Discussion:
Most of yesterday’s reported
avalanche activity was loose sluffing of surface snow on steep slopes of all
elevations. The odd soft and hard wind drifts
were also encountered, though most were shallow, small and not reactive.
Today’s avalanche
concerns include sluffing of the surface snow on steep slopes of all aspects
and elevation. These sluffs are running
fast and far in continuously steep terrain, and they are large enough to knock you
off your feet or over a cliff. Also,
avoid any fresh drifts of wind blown snow that may have formed yesterday
afternoon and overnight at the higher elevations. These are also large enough to take a person
for a ride.
With a storm approaching,
observe the upper layers of the snowpack – there is a mix of near surface
facets, weak low density snow and localized slopes with sun, rime and rain
crusts buried up to 1/2 meter deep, which could produce an interesting
avalanche pattern when loaded.
Bottom Line for the
There are
pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger on steep slopes with
recent drifts of wind blown snow and on steep slopes for fast moving sluffs
that are now large enough to knock you off your feet. Out of the wind affected terrain and on slopes
less steep than about 35 degrees, the avalanche danger is generally LOW. Notes: If you are heading out on a more remote adventure
this weekend, the avalanche danger is probably a notch higher in the outlying
areas we don’t forecast for and terrain above about 11,000’ in general. Also, with snow in the forecast, there will be
an increasing avalanche danger late Sunday into Monday.
Mountain Weather:
This morning’s clouds
should break up about midday, and temperatures warm as the winds shift to the
west ahead of the next storm. 8,000’
highs will feel balmy as they approach 30 degrees today, and 10,000’
temperatures will be inching towards 20.
The northwest to westerly winds will be in the 5 to 15 mph range at most
elevations, and the gusty upper elevation winds should gradually decrease. A
rather complicated storm will bring snow starting midday tomorrow, with the heaviest
snow Sunday night into midday Monday. Cold
temperatures will follow the storm, with highs dropping back down into the single
digits for most of next week.
Announcements
Wasatch Powderbird Guides did
not fly on Friday due to weather, and if the weather allows today they will be
in Mineral,
On Thursday, January 24th, there will be a panel discussion on risk
and decision making in outdoor activities, which should be very
interesting. It will be at the Salt Lake
Downtown Library at 7:00 pm and it will also be broadcast on KCPW.
The second annual avalanche awareness snowmobile ride is Saturday, February 2nd
and proceeds will help support snowmobile specific avalanche awareness
projects. Detains can be found at http://www.avarides.com/
The free avalanche beacon parks are up and running at Solitude,
Snowbird and the Canyons. They’re great
places to practice alone or with friends.
If you want to get this avalanche advisory e-mailed to you daily click HERE.
UDOT highway avalanche control work info can be
found by calling (801) 975-4838.
Our statewide tollfree line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, option 8).
The UAC depends
on contributions from users like you to support our work. To find out
more about how you can support our efforts to continue providing the avalanche
forecasting and education that you expect please visit our Friends page.
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.
Drew Hardesty will update this advisory by 7:30 on Sunday morning.