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,
February 21, 2008 7:30 am
Good morning, this is
Current Conditions:
We got just a skiff to
an inch of snow overnight from low elevation clouds coming in from the
west. Ridge top winds remain very light with
ridge top temperatures around 20 degrees.
The old snow is very worn out with sun and wind crusts on most slopes
with the exception of 4 inches of nice, creamy, faceted snow on the wind and
sun-sheltered, north facing slopes. All
the popular backcountry slopes are completely tracked out so you will have to
be creative for another day until we get a freshening up on Friday.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
It was another quite
day in
Although it will not be a problem today, with significant storms in the
forecast, we need to start thinking about future avalanches. The north facing slopes especially at mid
elevations have a very weak layer of faceted snow on the surface. Any significant load of new snow or wind blown
snow may overload this weak, sugary snow.
The expected snow on Friday will probably not weigh enough to overload
this layer but the strong storm on Sunday night will definitely push it over the
edge. From what we’ve seen this weak,
surface snow is quite widespread on northwest through northeast facing slopes
between about 7,000’ and 10,000’.
Bottom Line for the
The
avalanche danger is generally LOW, with only isolated
places where a person could trigger a slide. There are pockets of MODERATE danger below
7,000’ as steep slopes warm up and produce damp sluffs and rollerballs.
Mountain Weather:
We should pile up a
mighty 1-3 inches of snow during the day as low elevation clouds come in from
the west. Ridge top winds will remain
nearly nonexistent with ridge top temperatures in the mid 20’s and 8,000’
temperatures around freezing.
Unfortunately, it’s not enough of a storm to break up the smoggy
inversion in the valleys but it’s enough to at least warm up the boundary layer. Below 7,000’ the inversion will weaken enough
to make the low elevation snow damp.
Friday we will finally get enough of a storm to freshen things up with perhaps
6-10 inches of snow. We will likely get
another weak pulse on Saturday but then we should get a stronger storm on
Sunday through Tuesday. This storm looks
to be very warm on Sunday with extremely strong southerly winds and a very
strong cold front on Sunday night. Stay
tuned.
Announcements
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides did not fly
yesterday due to weather and they will probably not fly today. For more detailed information please call
(801) 742-2800 or go to their daily
blog.
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).
Watch video tututorials and fieldwork from UAC staff at our YouTube
channel.
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.