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,
March 08, 2008 7:30 am
Good morning, this is
Current Conditions:
Under cloudy skies,
light snow has just started to fall in the mountains. Overnight, the westerly winds averaged 25 to
35 mph across the highest peaks, with gusts to 50. This morning, the winds are in the process of
shifting to the northwest and have decreased into the 10 to 20 mph range at
most locations. Temperatures are in the 20’s
at mid elevations, and the teens along the ridgelines. Most old snow surfaces are rough supportable wind
or sun crusts, though several inches of soft recrystalized powder on northwest
through northeasterly facing slopes provides good riding conditions on untracked
slopes.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
The only activity
reported Friday was a very few damp sluffs on steep, sunny slopes and one tired
old wind slab that cracked, but didn’t move.
Today, with the
addition of a small shot of new snow, sluffs on steep northwest through northeasterly
facing slopes could become large enough to be a concern to skiers, boarders and
snowshoers. On many of these shady slopes,
the new snow will be landing on sugary, near surface facets sitting on a hard bed
surface. Once a sluff gets moving, it
could entrain more snow, and run further and faster than expected on long,
continuously steep slopes or in gullies.
A few perched wind slabs or cornices could also crack out beneath the weight
of a person, and in the wrong terrain, send them off a cliff or tumbling down a
long steep slope.
Bottom Line for the
The avalanche danger
is generally LOW today, with a MODERATE
danger on steep, upper elevation northwesterly through northeasterly facing
slopes, where long running sluffs large enough to knock a person off their feet
could be triggered. It may also be
possible to trigger a few old wind slabs or cornices, which could send you for
a ride in the wrong terrain. The consequence of triggering one of these small
avalanches is much less for those on snowmobiles.
Mountain Weather:
A weak cold front will
bring light snow to the mountains today, with 3 to 5 inches possible. Another inch or two may be added tonight as snow
showers linger into the evening under a northerly flow. Temperatures today will be near freezing at
8,000’ and in the upper teens at 10,000’.
The northwesterly winds will continue to decrease, into the 10 to 20 mph
range at most stations. Sunday will be
partly cloudy and cool with very light winds.
After a rapid warm up on Monday, a small storm looks to be on tap for Tuesday
night into Wednesday, with a stronger storm forecast for around next weekend.
Announcements
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew in Mineral,
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.