In partnership with:
Tri-City
Performance, Polaris, the
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after
the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated with on Saturday January 13,
2007.
Good Morning! This is Craig
Gordon with the
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to
Come join us for
a star studded fundraising ride on Saturday Jan. 27th. Click here for more details or call 801-963-3819.
Current Conditions:
High clouds are beginning
to develop over the area this morning, ahead of a cold Pacific storm headed our
way. West and southwesterly winds have been steadily increasing since about
Avalanche Conditions:
The slab created
by the weekend wind event has relaxed somewhat and in most places is like a
broken rubber band with little stored energy. In the past two days neither Ted
nor I have seen any recent avalanche activity, which would indicate the
snowpack is adjusting to the recent rapid load. The warm temperatures have
helped settle things out a bit, but given the overall weak structure of our
snowpack I think there are still a few places where you could trigger an old
hard wind slab. The most likely place would be steep shady slopes at upper
elevations. Look for and avoid any obvious fat pillows of snow particularly
ones that have a hollow drum-like sound and these may be a bit farther down
slope than you might expect. In addition, winds will be increasing today and
there’s enough loose snow available to blow around and form shallow new wind
drifts, which should be relatively predictable and manageable in size.
Bottom Line:
In upper elevation terrain at and above tree line
the avalanche danger is MODERATE today on slopes
steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those with both old and recent
deposits of wind drifted snow. A MODERATE avalanche danger
means human triggered avalanches are possible.
At mid and lower elevations and in non-wind affected
terrain the avalanche danger is generally LOW.
Mountain Weather:
A
cold Pacific system should arrive sometime early Thursday morning giving us a
much needed coat of new paint. Ahead of the storm we should see thickening
clouds throughout the day, warm temperatures and increasing southwesterly
winds. Highs at 8,000’ will be near 40 degrees and at 10,000’ in the low to mid
30’s. Overnight lows dip into the low 20’s. Winds will be blowing 15-25 mph
along the ridges and gusting into the upper 30’s at the most exposed mountain
top locations. Light snow should begin late tonight, but it really doesn’t get
going until Thursday morning as cold arctic air moves over the region. Thursday
should be cold and snowy with highs in the mid 20’s. Snow continues through
Friday and Saturday with high temperatures only reaching into the single
digits. Storm totals should be around a foot.
Announcements:
Come join us for a star studded fundraising ride on
Saturday Jan. 27th. Click here
for more details.
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!
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.
.