In partnership with:
Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after
the date and time it’s issued, and will be updated
Good Morning! This is Craig
Gordon with the
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to
Current Conditions:
A moist westerly flow remains
over the region as the next round of snow showers works into the area. Under
mostly cloudy skies temperatures are in the mid to upper 20’s at both the
trailhead and 10,000’ ridge top elevations. Winds are blowing out of the
west-northwest with hourly averages in the upper teens along the ridges and
gusts in the low 30’s in the most exposed locations. 2”-3” of new snow has
fallen in the past 24 hours. Riding and turning conditions have vastly improved
since the Sunday storm which deposited nearly 10” of new snow and total snow
depths now average about 30”.
Avalanche Conditions:
With all the weak surface snow out there, you think we would’ve seen a little more avalanche activity other than sluffing on steep slopes as a result of Sunday night’s storm. The new snow was light in density and came in with hardly any winds so a cohesive piece of snow or slab, never developed. Without this key ingredient in the avalanche recipe things were pretty benign. However, yesterday morning winds picked up and we found sensitive shallow soft slabs on steep leeward slopes in upper elevation terrain. These manageable slabs were about 8”-10” deep and easy to detect by their round, fat looking appearance on a slope. Today may not be as straight forward though, as winds are expected to increase throughout the day changing the avalanche equation. I’d suspect more widespread drifting will occur and slabs will become more sensitive as the day wears on. Keep an eye out for changes in the weather and be aware of obvious clues like shooting cracks or whoomphing sounds which indicate unstable snow. In addition, tweak small test slopes with minimal consequences similar in aspect, elevation and slope angle to what you want to ride and gather some information. See how they’re reacting and make informed decisions based on your observations, rather than blindly charging up a steep slope just because there’s new snow.
Bottom Line:
In upper elevation terrain at and above tree line
the avalanche danger is MODERATE
on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those with recent
deposits of wind drifted snow. A MODERATE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches
are possible.
In terrain not effected by the wind the avalanche
danger is generally LOW
today.
Mountain Weather:
A
strong jet stream will remain north of
Announcements:
I want to thank the crew at Tri-City Performance in
Springville along with Polaris and the Utah Snowmobile Association for partnering
with the avalanche center and stepping up to the plate by providing a new sled
for this season! Click
here, to
see the new
ride!
The
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.
.