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
Monday,
March 24, 2008 7:30 am
Good morning, this is
Current Conditions:
With temps moving
still higher, today looks to be another excellent sunny spring-like day. Temps dipped only into the mid- to high-20’s
last night, quite a bit warmer than previous nights, so an early start might be
a good idea if you are hunting for some good corn. An overnight inversion will also allow for the
softening of the higher elevation solar aspect surface snow earlier in the day. The west to southwesterlies picked up
overnight and are blowing 20-30mph along the higher peaks with gusts into the mid-40’s. Excellent
corn conditions complement the soft recycled powder on the true northerly
aspects.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
Yesterday was a relatively
quiet day for snowpack news in the backcountry with reports of a few short-running
sluffs consisting of recrystallized snow and some wet loose releases off of
steeper rocky terrain. The solid
overnight freeze likely helped keep things relatively stable on Sunday on the
solar aspects. Significantly warmer
temps overnight, plus warmer daytime temps today may allow for more surface activity
on SE to W aspects. Like most things in
life, timing is everything. If you're starting to see some pinwheels and
rollerballs, or are sinking in up past your boot tops, you've probably
outstayed your welcome. Change aspects, drop your slope angle, and set
your alarm earlier for tomorrow. The lower elevation northerly aspects
are likely to become wet and unsupportable - you'll need to watch all the lower
elevation exits today.
Bottom Line for the
A LOW danger this
morning will rapidly rise to MODERATE this morning
on the steep sun exposed slopes. Warmer ‘overnight
lows’ will narrow your window of opportunity for the corn hunt before becoming
overly punchy and saturated, especially in areas out of the wind.
Mountain Weather:
Warming temps will
push daytime highs to the mid- to upper-40’s at 8000’ and mid- to upper-30’s at
10,000’. Winds will be sustained 20-30 mph
from the west-southwest with higher speeds north of I-80. A storm passing to the north of us tomorrow
should only give us some spillover clouds and a slight drop in temps. Wednesday night’s cold front looks less
impressive than yesterday’s model runs, but at least we’ll see a few inches of
snow and plummeting temps into the single digits.
Announcements
The Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew along
the Cascade Ridgeline and in the American Fork.
Today they’ll again be along the Cascade Ridgeline and in the Bountiful
Sessions. They may also be operating in
the American Fork. 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.