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 Wednesday March 28, 2007.
Good Morning! This is Craig
Gordon with the
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to
Current Conditions:
Skies remained clear overnight allowing for another
solid snowpack refreeze, but with a mild southwest flow and high clouds on tap
for later in the day we might not see the epic corn conditions last quite as
late as yesterday. Currently it’s 27 degrees at both the ridgeline and
trailhead elevations and a few historic cold spots such as Lily and Trial Lake
are in the low 20’s.Winds are generally out of the west and northwest, blowing
15-20 mph. If melt-freeze crusts aren’t your bag, there are still patches of
soft settled powder on upper elevation shady slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
Just like yesterday, the
ticket for today is to get on the snow early and follow the sun around as it
warms the snow surface. East aspects will soften first followed by southeast,
south, southwest and finally west. Yesterday’s cool and breezy weather kept the
snow surface supportable at mid and upper elevations until late in the day, but
on the return trip to the trailhead, lower elevation snow turned into
bottomless mank. With a shallower overnight refreeze,
today’s supportable conditions may not last as long especially down low. So a
well timed exit will help alleviate both the possibility of triggering a wet
avalanche late in the day or any frustrations of falling off or through a
packed trail.
As far as our snowpack is
concerned, the cold temperatures are starting to lockup some of the damp
mid-pack weaknesses we’ve been worried about, but yesterday while Ted was out
he stumbled onto a large natural
wet slab at the head of the Mill
Creek drainage on the east
side of the range. This slide was several feet deep, occurring on a steep
east facing slope at about 11,000’ in elevation and probably avalanched Monday
or Tuesday. An interesting note is this avalanche failed on weak shallow snow
around rocks, much like a snowmobiler
triggered avalanche in upper
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger is
generally LOW this
morning, increasing to MODERATE on all sun-exposed slopes steeper than about 35
degrees with daytime heating. A MODERATE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanche are
possible.
With a good shot of snow
headed our way for midweek, I’d expect a rising avalanche danger during the
Tuesday/Wednesday timeframe.
Mountain Weather:
A
weak weather disturbance will approach the region today producing a mild
southwest flow and high clouds. Winds will switch to the southwest and blow in
the 15-25 mph range, increasing late tonight to 40 mph along the ridges. Highs
today at 8,000’ will be in the low 50’s and at 10,000’ near 40 degrees. Overnight
lows hover right around freezing. A weak cold front will drop across northern
Announcements:
I completed a
preliminary investigation on the avalanche accident that occurred on Saturday
Feb.17th in
The
I’d like to thank Jim Shea, The Canyons and Colleen Graham
from the Friends of the UAC for all their hard work in making the Know Before
You Go fundraiser such a success!
The first annual western Uinta fundraising ride was
an amazing success with nearly 150 people showing up for the ride alone!
I want to thank the Jim Shea Family Foundation,
Rocky Mountain Sledders, the Wasatch Snowmobile Association and the Utah
Snowmobile Association for all their tireless work in putting the event
together. Thanks again to Team Thunderstruck and the Boondockers
crew for helping out and schooling even the most experienced riders. Also, we
couldn’t have pulled it off if it weren’t for Chad Booth who did an incredible
job as both master of ceremonies and auctioneer. Finally, it wouldn’t have been
possible without the support of everyone who attended… you folks are
awesome!
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!
We installed Beacon Basin at the Noblett’s
Trailhead and it’s good to go. I want to thank Doug, Bill, Jared, Brad and Wally
who
unselfishly took time out of their powder day to
help out the riding community… you guys rock!
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 7:00 am on
Wednesday March 28, 2007.
This advisory is also available by calling
1-800-648-7433 or
1-888-999-4019.
.