In partnership with:
Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the
.
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after
the date and time it’s issued.
Good Morning! This is Craig
Gordon with the
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to
Current Conditions:
In the wake of yesterdays fast moving storm system, skies cleared and temperatures dropped faster than a bad stock option. Currently it’s 9 degrees at 10,000’ and in the mid teens at the trailhead elevations. Winds are blowing out of the west-northwest at speeds of 10-20 mph along the ridges. Wednesday’s storm was a turkey by all accounts as most areas only picked up about an inch of new snow. Riding and sliding conditions are pretty bleak, but among the hard crusts, wind damage and frozen old tracks, I bet you can find a patch or two of soft settled powder on protected slopes at mid elevations.
Avalanche Conditions:
Yesterdays southerly winds nuked along the high ridges and blew what little snow there is out there onto the leeward slopes, forming shallow hard wind slabs. Most slabs I found were pretty stubborn and you really had to hunt around to find one that would crack out around you. While pockety in nature and not widespread, I’d still be suspicious of any steep upper elevation slope especially where slabs have formed on weak snow.
Today’s other avalanche concern is the ongoing possibility of triggering a larger avalanche on weak snow near the ground. Certainly the warm temperatures this past week have allowed the snowpack to strengthen and the deeper slab instabilities seem to have adjusted over time. However, there are places you could still trigger a large avalanche and steep upper elevation slopes with a shallow weak snowpack would be likely suspects.
Bottom Line:
At and above tree-line, the avalanche danger is MODERATE on all slopes steeper than about 35 degrees facing
the north half of the compass, especially those with recent deposits of wind
drifted snow. A MODERATE
avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are possible.
On all other slopes the avalanche danger is
generally LOW.
Mountain Weather:
High
pressure will be over the region today giving us mostly sunny skies and warming
temperatures. Highs at 10,000’ will be in the mid 20’s and at 8,000’ near
freezing. Overnight lows dip into the mid teens. Winds will shift to the
southwest and remain tolerable, blowing 10-20 mph with an occasional gust at
the most exposed locations in the low 30’s. A weak system works its way in the
area late Saturday bringing a slight chance of a flurry or two. Sunday we
should see increasing winds and clouds with snow developing late in the
evening. A good shot of snow still looks on track for Monday and Tuesday. The
less we talk about it, the greater the chances are it might really happen.
Announcements:
Free avalanche awareness classes are available. Give
me a call at 801-231-2170 or email [email protected]
and get one scheduled before the season gets too crazy!
If any terms confuse you, take a look at our new avalanche encyclopedia.
For avalanche photos click here.
General
Information:
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.
I’ll update this
advisory by
This advisory is
also available by calling 1-800-648-7433 or
1-888-999-4019.
.