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,
April 03, 2008 7:30 am
Good morning, this is
Current Conditions:
The weak storm that
put down a few inches on Wednesday throughout the range has exited our area and skies are mostly
clear. Temperatures dropped into the
upper teens and low 20s overnight with west northwest winds averaging 5 to 15
mph along the mid elevation ridges and gusting into the 40s at the most exposed
peaks.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
It looks like our cold
temperatures have passed. Not that it’s
really warm but just not the “January like” temperatures of a few days
ago. The newest snow became damp on Wednesday
even on north aspects fairly high in elevation producing rollerballs and pinwheeling. Natural
activity was in the form of wet loose snow avalanches some piling up fairly
good sized debris piles. Many people
were able to initiate wet slides as well.
There were a number of reports of small soft slabs that skiers released
also.
For today we’ll be
looking at wet activity as our main concern.
While a number of slopes became damp yesterday and will have refroze
overnight making them less susceptible to warming, clearing with direct sun today
may override this producing more widespread wet activity. An early start and early end is the safest
bet for mountain travel today. Avoid gullies
and terrain traps where wet activity may ooze into piling up quite deep.
Bottom Line for the
Most areas have a LOW avalanche danger this morning. A close eye must be kept on wet activity as the danger is expected to rise to MODERATE or even CONSIDERABLE as the day goes on. Stay out of gully bottoms and confined chutes
where any avalanche that releases from above will funnel into. Pay attention to any snow movement such as
snow falling off trees, rollerballs and small sluffs all indicating the snow is
heating up. Exit the mountains early to
avoid the wet activity issue.
Mountain Weather:
Temperatures should warm into
the mid 30s at 8000 feet and around 30 along the upper ridges. Northwest winds should average 5 to 15 mph
gusting into the 30s along the more exposed locations. Temperatures again drop back into the upper
teens and low 20s tonight with another mild day in store for Friday with warmer
temperatures. There’s a chance for snow
on Saturday with mild high pressure moving in Sunday.
Announcements
Our
partners, the Friends of the
The Wasatch Powderbird
Guides did not get our on Wednesday and will try for 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.