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| Advisory: Salt Lake Area Mountains | Issued by Evelyn Lees for Friday - February 6, 2015 - 6:45am |
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bottom line The avalanche danger will rapidly rise to MODERATE with day time heating, on steep slopes of almost all aspects and elevations. As the snow becomes damp or slushy, wet loose sluffs can be triggered and often run further than expected. Isolated cornices, wind drifts and loose sluffs can be triggered in upper elevation terrain, along the higher ridgelines and in open bowls.
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special announcement If you are heading north to the Logan area mountains, make sure to check out their forecast - large slides have been triggered the past two days, and the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE. |
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current conditions Under a cape of high thin clouds, temperatures remained above freezing at most locations overnight. Some mid elevation stations south of I-80 are even in the 40s this morning, and there are a few 50s in the low elevations of the Ogden area mountains. The southwesterly winds stayed elevated throughout the night – speeds across the high peaks averaged 30 to 40 mph, with gusts in the 40s and 50s. |
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recent activity There was a variety of avalanche activity yesterday. A few dry sluffs were triggered on upper elevation, northerly facing slopes, large enough to catch and carry a person. A cornice fall, reported as human triggered, released a soft wind slab on the southeast face of Superior. Resort explosives were able to release a single deeper pocket 90 feet wide, 4 to 6’ deep, on a consistently wind loaded upper elevation slope. Left: Loose sluff, east facing Obelisk (Falk) Right: Cornice triggered wind slab, southeast facing Superior. (White)
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| type | aspect/elevation | characteristics |
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LIKELIHOOD
 LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
 LARGE
SMALL
TREND
 INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
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description
It is another spring like day, with very warm temperatures, and wet avalanches are the main concern. Early starts and finishes are important, as it will become possible to trigger wet loose sluffs on almost all aspects and elevations, including the shady slopes. Get off of and out from under steep slopes as the snow heats up and remember, these wet sluffs often run further than expected. Select your terrain carefully, avoiding terrain traps such as gullies and slopes where a triggered sluff could run out of sight or threaten people, roads or buildings below. Unpredictable glide avalanches may become more common as the heat wave continues, and a shallow wet slab is not our of the question. |
| type | aspect/elevation | characteristics |
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LIKELIHOOD
 LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
 LARGE
SMALL
TREND
 INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
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description
As the brisk, southwesterly winds persist, wind slabs are continuing to form along the high ridgelines and down in open bowls. Most of them are stabilizing rapidly with help from the warm temperatures. However, in isolated places, including shallow snowpack areas, a person could trigger one of these denser slabs. Cracking and collapsing are signs that you are on a wind slab. Cornices are sensitive, and could break back further than expected or even on approach. |
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weather It will be another tediously warm day, with mountain temperatures in the 40s and low 50s. Abundant high thin clouds will stream over the area again today, though periods of direct sun may become more common this afternoon. The southwesterly winds will remain elevated – averaging in the 25 to 35 mph range along the highest ridgelines, and in the 15 to 20 mph range at the mid elevations. The impressive storm hitting the northwest will disintegrate as it trundles inland, and produce a little rain and snow Saturday morning, with slightly cooler temperatures. |
| 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, 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 If you would like to get the daily advisory by email 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, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools. Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day. Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/ 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. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here. IMPORTANT: Before skinning or hiking 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. |
