Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Salt Lake Area Mountains Issued by Drew Hardesty for Wednesday - March 12, 2014 - 6:12am
bottom line

The danger will rise to CONSIDERABLE on the steep sunlit slopes today with daytime warming. Natural and human triggered wet avalanches will be likely. Avoid being on or beneath the steep confined sunny terrain during the heat of the day. Isolated pockets of MODERATE danger exist in the mid to upper elevation slopes for occasional dry sluffs, shallow new wind drifts from the easterly winds, and lingering storm "graupel slabs".

The danger rose to the left "looks" more alarming than what the danger really is - in other words, the yellow should really be "pockety", and the orange doesn't convey that it's mostly LOW rising to Considerable where the bulk of orange depicts 'likelihood' of triggering when the spring sun hits the cold snow for the first time...
special announcement
current conditions

Skies are clear, temps are in the teens, winds have worked their way clockwise around the dial and are now blowing 10-15mph out of the east and northeast. Skiing and riding conditions? Among the best of the year. Storm totals:

LCC 14"/1.41" BCC 10/1.21" PC 7/.75" Ogden 3"/.36 Provo trace-1"

recent activity

Avalanche control work was productive during the height of instability yesterday morning with storm slabs and loose snow slides easily initiated with the usual control measures. Otherwise, those out and about triggered a few longer running cold dry sluffs; others noted a few minor wet loose slides in areas that saw a bit of sun.

Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 12 hours
description

Years ago - I think it was the 01/02 season - I returned from a backcountry ski outing to find a dozen yellow stickies pasted to my car, each with some quote from forecasts over the years. One of them, written in indelible black marker, said simply, "Like most things in life, timing is everything." And so it is today.

The steep east to south to westerly facing aspects will see a dramatic change in temperatures and solar radiation today, creating unstable wet snow conditions. When you start to see rollerballs, pinwheels, natural and easily initiated loose wet sluffs, it's time to change aspects or slope angles. Some of the sluffs may even crowbar out newer storm slabs, sitting on the old melt-freeze crusts. Time and place is key with these types of avalanches. In other words, I wouldn't be caught dead in Tanner's Gulch, a steep south facing monster slide path above Little Cottonwood Canyon at 2pm.

Avalanche Problem 2
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

Stability improved markedly as the day wore on yesterday and most areas (other than the steep sunny slopes) will have stable snow today. Still, it's possible to trigger longer running dry sluffs with a few isolated, pockety storm or wind slabs here and there. These will all be manageable for experienced backcountry practitioners through careful route selection and execution.

weather

We'll have sunny skies, generally light easterly wind, and temps rising to the upper 20s at 10,000' and the upper 30s at 8000'. We'll get an afterthought of a brush-by storm on Friday night followed by clearing into the weekend. The weather models are in poor agreement much beyond that.

general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304 or 800-662-4140, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

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 and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033), Canyons Resort Dispatch (435-615-3322)

Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123).

Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150)

EMAIL ADVISORY We have switched to a new SLC email advisory system. If you would like to get the daily advisory by email, or if you have been getting the advisory by email since the beginning of the season and wish to continue, you will need to subscribe here.​  

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures:  LINK TO UDOT

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.uned.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.  

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

Discount lift tickets are now available at Backcountry.com - Thanks to Ski Utah and the Utah Resorts.  All proceeds go towards paying for Utah Avalanche Center avalanche and mountain weather advisories.

To those skinning uphill at resorts:  it is your responsibility to know the resort policy on uphill travel.  Some allow uphill travel and have guidelines, some don't. Contact the Ski Patrol at each resort for details. IMPORTANT: Before skinning at a resort under new snow conditions, check in with Ski Patrol.  Resorts can restrict or cut off access if incompatible with control and grooming operations.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI:  Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC.  Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell.  You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

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 exist.