Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Brett Kobernik

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

We will be issuing intermittent avalanche advisories for the rest of the season, mostly in the afternoons. This advisory will cover Friday April 24th. We will update this advisory again Saturday morning, April 25th by 7:30am.


BOTTOM LINE

Danger by aspect and elevation on slopes approaching 35° or steeper.
(click HERE for tomorrow's danger rating)


Danger Rose Tutorial

The avalanche danger is MODERATEon all aspects for wet avalanche activity on Friday. Any activity will most likely be below 10500 feet.


CURRENT CONDITIONS

Warm temperatures have been the predominant weather feature since earlier this week with ridgetop highs in the 50s and 60s and overnight lows in the mid 30s. On Thursday some clouds started moving in ahead of the next storm system with southerly winds picking up a bit as well. The snow surface consists mainly of wet unconsolidated snow.


RECENT ACTIVITY

Wet and heat related natural avalanche activity has occurred for 5 days in a row now with each day's high temperatures slightly warmer then the last. Some paths have ran multiple times peeling of the next layer underneath each successive day. The natural avalanche cycle included all aspects up to around 11000 feet. Almost every north and south facing chute in Little Cottonwood Canyon has debris in the runnout zones. Activity in Big Cottonwood includes Kessler and a very large slide in Stairs Gulch which came within 1/4 to 1/2 mile of the road.


THREAT #1

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

A cooling trend should put a halt to most wet avalanche activity but this will still be the concern for Friday. Continue to avoid runnout zones and think about where an avalanche may travel below you if you were to disturb some snow and trigger one. That is, watch for people below you.


MOUNTAIN WEATHER

Thursday night low temperatures will be in the low 30s at 8000 feet. Highs on Friday will be in the mid 40s which is cooler then the last few days. The west southwest winds will continue in the 10 to 20 mph range along the mid elevation ridges through Friday with cloudy skies. Snowfall could start in the afternoon with not much accumulation expected until Friday evening with the associated cold front. A high rain snow line will continue to drop to around 7000 feet as the day goes on. This next storm does not look very impressive to me but it looks like it could linger through Saturday and continue to produce periods of snow. If we're lucky we could see 5 to 10 inches by the time it's done.


GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

We will be issuing intermittent afternoon avalanche advisories for the rest of the season, updating the advisory as conditions change.

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UDOT highway avalanche control work info can be found by calling (801) 975-4838. Our statewide toll free line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, option 8).

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We appreciate any and all late season avalanche and snow observations, so keep them coming!! Please leave us a message at (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at uac@utahavalanchecenter.org. (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.


This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done.  This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.


This advisory provided by the USDA Forest Service, in partnership with:

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, Utah Division of Emergency Management, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake Unified Fire Authority and the friends of the La Sal Avalanche Center. See our Sponsors Page for a complete list.