Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Evelyn Lees

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

TeleVision comes to Park City - see the latest Powderwhores radical version of backcountry skiing on Wednesday, Dec 8, at the Jim Santy Auditorium, 1255 Park Ave. Raffle proceeds go to the FUAC. Details at http://utahavalanchecenter.org/event.

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center will be teaching several introductory avalanche classes this winter called Backcountry 101. The first is coming up – an evening lecture on Thursday, Dec 16th, followed by a field day Saturday, December 18th. Sign-ups are at the Black Diamond retail store. Check our Education Page.

Announcing an online auction for a pair of Black Diamond Drift skis with custom Avy Center graphics. Your choice of 176 or 186 cm. Go to eBay and search for item 320624812251. These were custom built for the FUAC & all proceeds go to forecasting & education in Utah!


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 generally LEVEL 1 (Low) this morning, and will increase to LEVEL 2 (Moderate) later in the day on steep wind drifted slopes. These sensitive new drifts will be most widespread on upper elevation northwest through east facing slopes. There are also pockets of LEVEL 2 (Moderate) danger of wet avalanche activity on steep slopes at the mid and low elevations with damp or wet snow and once again watch for roof avalanches.


CURRENT CONDITIONS

Under cloudy skies, light snow is just starting to fall in the mountains. Winds are from a southeasterly direction, averaging 15 to 20 mph, with the highest ridges closer to 25 mph, with gusts to 40. 10,000’ temperatures are in the upper 20’s, but there is an interesting band of non freezing temps at some mid elevations, which have remained in the mid 30’s overnight.

Saturday night’s winds worked magic on the inch or two of new snow – and good turning conditions were found by many on mid to upper elevation, northerly facing slopes yesterday, in shallow dense creamy powder on a supportable base. The main complaints at the moment are hitting rocks in the shallow snowpack areas and the challenging conditions on the warm and crusty low to mid elevation and southerly facing slopes, especially if you timing is off.


RECENT ACTIVITY

The only avalanches reported yesterday were a few very small sluffs, both wet and dry, with a few roller balls rounding out the activity.


THREAT #1

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 12 hours.

Yesterday, soft cornices were easy to trigger along the higher ridges. Today both cornices and on slope drifts of windblown snow will be increasing in depth and size as the day goes on. By mid day, the denser new snow could be quite sensitive on steep, wind drifted slopes, with drifts most widespread on north through easterly facing slopes. If you’re lucky enough to be where 5 to 9” of new snow falls, this denser new snow could become quite sensitive, easily releasing with slope cuts, especially on upper elevation shady slopes. And you will want to be above, not in, the moving snow. Carefully kicking cornices and doing slope cuts on test slopes will be a good way to keep track of changing conditions.


THREAT #2

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

That interesting band of non freezing temperatures…this means that the snow at low and mid elevations remained warm and damp overnight or just has a shallow surface refreeze. And the insulating new snow today could slow it’s cooling even more. So use normal caution by avoiding steep slopes with damp, soggy snow, and especially stay out of terrain traps like gullies and creek bottoms. The possibility of roof avalanches remains, so look up and avoid travel beneath steep, snow covered roofs.


MOUNTAIN WEATHER

A moist, but dynamically challenged, trough will cross northern Utah today in two pieces, bringing cooler temperatures and light snow. General snow amounts of 3 to 6” are expected by evening, with the higher amounts in areas favored by southwest flow. The southerly winds will increase during the day, into the15 to 25 mph range, with gusts to 40 common. The highest peaks could average near 30 mph, with gusts to 55. Temperatures will cool this afternoon, into the upper 20’s at 8,000’ and low 20’s at 10,000’. High pressure will return for Tuesday night into Wednesday, followed by several small disturbances on a west to northwest flow into the weekend.


GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following agencies to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks.

Salt Lake – Alta Central (801-742-2033)

Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017)

Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150)

Discount Lift tickets: Ski Utah, Backcountry.com, Alta, Deer Valley, Park City, The Canyons, Wolf Mountain, Snowbasin, Beaver Mountain, Brighton, Sundance, and Solitude have donated a limited number of tickets for sale at discounted prices.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides flight plan.

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8.

Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

Subscribe to the daily avalanche advisory e-mail click HERE.

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

You can participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting your avalanche and snow observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or goto utahavalanchecenter.org and click on Contact.

Donate to your favorite non-profit – The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

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.

We will update this forecast tomorrow morning. Thanks for calling.


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.