Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Salt Lake Area Mountains Issued by Mark Staples for Sunday - March 6, 2016 - 5:28am
bottom line

This morning the avalanche danger will be LOW but will rise to MODERATE when today's storm arrives. At low elevations rain may cause loose, wet snow avalanches. At mid and upper elevations, strong southerly winds and new snow will make wind slabs the main problem.




special announcement

The Utah Avalanche Center greatly values our longtime partnership with our world-class resorts and is blowing out the remaining donated lift tickets from Snowbird, Snowbasin, Sundance, and Nordic Valley with reduced prices. Every penny you spend benefits the Utah Avalanche Center.

Check out our Garage Sale! Chock full of sweet backcountry gear - you can find the goods on our Facebook page here.

current conditions

It was another warm night but conditions will be changing quickly today with an approaching cold front that was over Nevada this morning.

  • Temperatures are mostly in the mid 30's F this morning
  • Winds are blowing 15-25 mph from the S and gusting 30-50 mph.
recent activity

There were no reports of avalanches from the backcountry yesterday.

Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

The first avalanche problem will only be an issue this morning when the storm arrives. Rain at low elevations could cause loose, wet snow avalanches. However, this issue should be short lived because temperatures will drop below freezing after the cold front passes over the area.

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

The second problem will be an issue later today as snow falls and strong southerly winds continue to blow. At upper elevations, winds may have already formed a few fresh wind slabs. At mid elevations, wind slabs may not become a problem until afternoon when winds will have fresh snow to transport.

weather

Precipitation should start this morning with the initial rain/snow line around 7-8000 feet. The cold front will arrive around midday and temperatures will drop into the 20's F by late afternoon. Strong southerly winds will continue for most of the day blowing 20-30 mph around 9000 feet with higher gusts and much stronger winds at 10-11,000 feet but they should ease some after the front passes. Expect some lightning.

Snowfall will be intense as the cold front passes over the area with a brief lull then increased snowfall late this afternoon. Snowfall will linger into the evening but slowly taper off. Total snowfall amounts will be 6-12 inches containing up to an inch of water.

general announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out 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.

To get help in an emergency (to request a rescue) in the Wasatch, call 911.  Be prepared to give your GPS coordinates or the run name. Dispatchers have a copy of the Wasatch Backcountry Ski map.

Backcountry Emergencies. It outlines your step-by-step method in the event of a winter backcountry incident.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry, but no one is hurt and you do not need assistance, please notify the nearest ski area dispatch to avoid a needless response by rescue teams. Thanks.

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.

Powderbird Helicopter Skiing - Blog/itinerary for the day  

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

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

To those skinning uphill at resorts:  it is critical to know the resort policy on uphill travel.  You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here

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.