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 a holiday forecast on
Monday January 15, 2007.
Good Morning! This is Craig
Gordon with the
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to Mirror Lake, to the North
Slope of the western Uinta Mountains. That’s a lot of turf and I can’t be in
all of these places at once. Your snow and avalanche observations are critical
to this program and help to save other riders lives by getting accurate
information out to the public. I’m
interested in what you’re seeing especially if you see or trigger an avalanche.
Please call 801-231-2170, or email at [email protected] and fill me in with all the details.
Come join us for
a star studded fundraising ride on Saturday Jan. 27th. Click here for more details or call 801-963-3819.
We installed
unselfishly took time out of their powder day to help out the riding
community… you guys rock!
Current Conditions:
Under mostly clear skies
the brutally cold temperatures continue this morning as Arctic air remains over
the region. Trailhead temperatures are a finger numbing -9 degrees and along
the ridges it’s -13 degrees. Of course there are exceptions. At notoriously
colder spots like
Avalanche Conditions:
The avalanche
conditions haven’t changed much in the past 24 hours and both sluffing on steep
slopes and shallow soft slabs are going to be our main, yet manageable concerns
today. Yesterday I found the new light density snow very reactive and it was
easy to get fast moving sluffs to run on the steep slopes I traveled on. I don’t
think they’ll be quite as reactive today due to the cold temperatures, but with
all the slick bed surfaces underneath take care that one doesn’t knock you off
your feet in steep terrain and send you for an unexpected ride. Secondly, there
are a few soft slabs that developed in the past few days along the leeward side
of the highest ridges. You’ll find the majority of these soft wind drifts
formed on steep slopes facing the north half of the compass. They’ll be around
a foot or so deep and easy to detect by their rounded pillow-like appearance.
Once again today, well placed slope cuts and sluff management will be good
defensive measures in steep terrain.
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 recent deposits of wind
drifted snow. A MODERATE avalanche danger means
human triggered avalanches are possible.
In non-wind affected terrain the avalanche danger is
generally LOW.
Mountain Weather:
We
can expect a slow warming trend the next couple of days under mostly sunny
skies. Highs today at 10,000’ will be near zero and at 8,000’ about 5 degrees.
Overnight lows will again be close to -10 degrees. Winds should remain
relatively light today, out of the north, blowing 10-20 mph with occasional
higher gusts in the low 30’s along the highest ridges. While temperatures warm
for Monday, unfortunately winds increase into the 30’s and 40’s at the most
wind exposed locations. The rest of the week should be quiet and now there
seems to be more uncertainty for the storm at the end of the week. I’ll have
more details on tomorrow’s advisory.
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.
.