Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Brett Kobernik

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Alta Ski Lifts will be conducting explosive testing today in the Catherine Pass area as they get ready to open the Supreme Chairlift for the season. Up hill traffic will be closed from the Alta side. Please help the guys out by choosing other terrain today.

Bruce and Drew will also be giving free avalanche awareness talks tonight. Bruce will be with the Wasatch Mountain Club and will be open to the public. Drew will be at the SLC REI. For more info, check the calendar off the Home page, or go to our Education link.

There's still a day and a half to bid 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 remains mostly at Level 1 (LOW) but you should pay a little more attention along the windier exposed terrain today where there may be a pockety Level 2 (MODERATE) danger. Lee slopes (easterly facing) could have some fresh drifts that may be sensitive to a person. These are not killers but could lead to injury if they happen to catch you off guard.


CURRENT CONDITIONS

We have overcast skies and some light snow showers with an inch or so new in the upper Cottonwoods. Ridgetop temperatures are in the low to mid 20s. West southwest winds increased a bit yesterday and into the evening with moderate gusts along the ridges but overall not too bad.


RECENT ACTIVITY

No avalanche activity was reported from the backcountry on Wednesday. A couple observations noted some drifting along the upper elevation ridges but not enough to become a concern.


THREAT #1

WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

With some snow available for transport, moderate wind speeds and a bit of new snow possible today, this may be enough to insert pockets of a Level 2 (Moderate) danger back into the forecast. While you may get some pockets to release along the ridges, my guess is that in reality, these are not going to pose a lot of danger to people in the backcountry unless you are in some sort of exposed terrain and you get knocked over.


MOUNTAIN WEATHER

Today we’ll have cloudy skies with possible snow showers adding up a trace to a couple of inches. Temperatures will be fairly mild at around freezing in the 8000 foot range and mid to upper 20s along the ridges. Winds shouldn’t play a huge role today and are probably at their strongest speeds right now with moderate gusts from a westerly direction. (More on winds - scroll to pg 18) They probably will slow slightly through the day. Winds will increase on Friday from the west northwest along with another shot of snow. Temperatures won’t get real cold with this system, only into the low to mid 20s. Around a half inch or a bit more of snow water equivalent is possible which may give us a nice refresher out there if the winds don’t get too out of hand this weekend which it looks as if they could be a bit annoying.


GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams 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.

Free UAC iPhone app from Canyon Sports.

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

UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

We appreciate all your avalanche and snow observations. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, or email to uac@utahavalanchecenter.org

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.