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,
February 03, 2008 7:30 am
Good morning, this is
AVALANCHE WARNING
ISSUED FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF
Current Conditions:
The current powerful
storm didn’t knock on the door, rather it kicked it in. Strong southerly winds of 40-60mph and gusts
to 75 are accompanying snowfall rates of 1-2”/hour, though the howling winds
are making it difficult for entirely accurate readings. It looks like the
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
Wild and varied
describes the avalanche activity in the central Wasatch yesterday. We didn’t hear of much to the north or south,
but let’s start with the natural activity.
Beyond the impressive natural sluffing in areas where no slabs have
developed, four east facing bowls north of the Park City ski areas at elevation
9000’ naturalled during the height of solar warming
yesterday, pulling out about a foot deep and 100’ wide, with the widest, at
what we call No-No-Name 300’ wide.
Likely a slow-to-heal intra storm weakness, rimed stellars – as evidenced
from other, representative snow pits. At
least 4 people went for rides in ‘new-snow’ avalanches that they triggered,
though no one was hurt. These occurred
in upper north-facing Days Fork, east off the Clayton Peak on a steep northwest
facing slope, south-facing Emma Ridge above LCC, and on a steep east facing
pocket above the Twin Lakes. Again,
lingering intra-storm weaknesses and lingering wind drifts are to blame. We’re not done. At least two slides pulled out into old,
faceted snow from October, the first a cornice-induced repeater in upper north
facing West Bowl of Silver Fork in a thin, shallow rocky spot, and something similar
over in north facing Argenta above Big Cottonwood. Other than a number of other small pockets,
the most impressive was a 300’ wide remotely triggered avalanche into Snake
Creek from skiers walking the ridge above.
The slide was on a southeast facing slope at 9000’. Lingering facet/crust combinations can likely
be the blame for this – a structure that is found in isolated, rather than
widespread areas.
All this, and now we
add heavy snowfall and strong winds.
Bottom Line for the
The
avalanche danger is rapidly rising to HIGH this morning on all
steep wind affected terrain that receives the most snow. Natural
and human triggered avalanches are expected on a variety of aspects, with some
stepping down to 3’ or deeper in selected areas.
Mountain Weather:
Heavy snowfall is
expected throughout much of the day. The
southerly winds are expected to remain strong until they gradually lose steam
while veering to the northeast in the later afternoon. Temps will drop to the low teens. Snow is expected overnight, with a quick
break likely Tuesday ahead of the next vigorous storm expected on
Wednesday. Hold on to your hats.
Announcements
Yesterday, Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew
in Days,
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.
I will update this advisory by 7:30 on Monday morning.