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
Sunday,
January 27, 2008 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with
the
Special Announcement:
We have issued a
special avalanche advisory for the foothills and the mountains from
Current Conditions:
Under mostly cloudy
skies temperatures are fairly warm in the mid to upper 20s at many mountain
locations with southwest winds averaging 10 to 25 mph at the mid elevation
ridges and gusting into the 50s and 60s along the highest locations.
Avalanche Discussion:
There was no shortage
of observations from Saturday with mostly clear skies and lots of people out in
the Mountains. Many observations
included something about wind drifting with a number of people triggering small
fresh wind drifts. There was also a few natural
avalanches reported that ran on Saturday as well. Most of these had a northerly component but
at least one was on a more southerly aspect.
A few of these were fairly large.
The winds played a roll in creating these. In general the winds were more pronounced at
elevations above around 10,000 feet until later in the afternoon when things
started to pick up more. There are a
variety of somewhat weak layers within the upper portion of the snowpack on
many aspects. They are not especially
weak and if left alone would probably heal nicely. However, a storm that may produce 1 to 3
inches of water weight coupled with strong winds very well could overload a
number of these layers and produce sizeable avalanches. (Check our photos page
as well as our snowpit page for more information)
It will be a day with
increasing avalanche danger. New snow
along with strong southerly winds will produce slabs that may release naturally
as well as with human triggers. You may
find these on a variety of aspects but with the southwest winds today, they’ll
be most pronounced on northwest through southeast facing slopes. This will not be a day to go for the big
lines.
We are somewhat
concerned with wet activity at the lower elevations today as well. Lots of low elevation unconsolidated snow
that receives rain today may produce wet activity. Terrain traps should be avoided at the lower
elevations today. This includes steep
areas around residential neighborhoods in and along the foothills. Roof-a-lanches are another concern for today. Keep an eye out on
your kids playing around these steep slopes and winter campers should not be
below any steep slopes.
Bottom Line for the
There will
be a rising avalanche danger today. The
avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on
steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. These will be most widespread along the
higher ridgelines, on northwest through southeasterly facing slopes, but be
alert for drifts cross loaded onto other aspects, off ridgelines and in open
bowls. Steep lower elevation terrain
should be avoided today as it becomes damp and especially if it receives rain
on the snow. We expect the danger to
reach HIGH tonight and into Monday
if the storm verifies.
Mountain Weather:
The strong winter
storm moving in from the southwest is going to produce windy conditions along
with snow today. We should see snow
starting this morning with the rain snow line around 6000 feet which may rise
to around 7000 feet as the day goes on.
4 to 8 inches of higher density snow is expected during the day with
possibly a slight break this afternoon.
The storm continues into Monday with a cold front moving through in the
morning and winds shifting to the northwest.
Winds will remain fairly strong on Monday. 1 to 3 inches of water weight is expected. This could add a couple of feet if things
hold together.
Announcements
Yesterday, Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew
in Mineral,
The second annual avalanche awareness
snowmobile ride is Saturday, February 2nd and proceeds will help
support snowmobile specific avalanche awareness projects. Details can be found at http://www.avarides.com/
Backcountry Awareness Week is February 8-10th,
featuring a Friday night fundraising dinner with guest speaker David Oliver Relin, author of the New York Times bestseller Three
Cups of Tea: One Man's
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 see any avalanches or interesting snow conditions, please leave us 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.