Utah Avalanche Center
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March 4, 2007 - 6:59 am
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT >>> A SPECIAL AVALANCHE ADVISORY CONTINUES FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH. RECENT HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS HAS LED TO DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS ON STEEP MOUNTAIN SLOPES. LARGE UNSURVIVABLE AVALANCHES HAVE RELEASED OVER THE PAST TWO DAYS. THOSE WITHOUT EXCELLENT AVALANCHE AND ROUTE FINDING SKILLS SHOULD AVOID THE BACKCOUNTRY.
SUMMARY >>> Danger by
ASPECT & ELEVATION
BOTTOM LINE
on slopes over 35 degrees
The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE today on slopes approaching 35 degrees and steeper on northwest through the easterly aspects. Large natural avalanches will be possible with daytime warming. Human triggered slides will be probable with sensitivity peaking with daytime warming. The danger of wet avalanche activity will rise to CONSIDERABLE on all steep sun-exposed slopes. Cornices will continue to be sensitive so give them a wide berth.
Forecaster: Drew Hardesty LINKS: -Danger scale- -Encyclopedia- -Text only- CURRENT CONDITIONS >>> LINKS TO MORE INFO: NWS SNOW PAGESNOTEL MAP
Skies are clear with the full moon just starting to wane. The northerly winds are generally light and the mountain temperatures will be the issue for today. Temperatures this morning are universally 20-25 degrees warmer than they were 24 hours ago. Theyre in the low to mid-twenties with colder readings in the drainages and mountain basins.
RECENT AVALANCHES AND SNOWPACK INFO >>> LINKS TO MORE INFO
AVALANCHE LISTPHOTOSACCIDENTSSNOW PROFILES For an avalanche forecaster, its an embarrassment of riches with all the activity during and since the natural cycle Thursday night into Friday morning. And, as far as we heard, no real close calls or incidents. It has been, thankfully, a ghost town in many of the backcountry areas, and I appreciate folks discipline in avoiding or tip-toe-ing around the more exposed avalanche prone-terrain. We did hear about a skier-released avalanche in the Upper Mary Chutes in the Brighton backcountry up to 3 deep, but details were few. Another party triggered a massive cornice along the Wolverine Cirque, pulling out a monster down below 4-7? deep and a couple hundred feet wide. Explosive testing by the Wasatch Powderbird Guides from the helicopter for protection of Big Cottonwood Canyon and elsewhere in the backcountry produced massive slides up to 4-6 deep with many described as wall-to-wall. The lead UDOT forecaster in BCC, who makes an art out of the understatement, described yesterdays explosive release-avalanche in Stairs Gulch as impressive. It ran within 1000 of the road. Many other photos keep piling in and can be found on our photos page here.
AVALANCHE CONCERNS >>> WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND Likely
Unlikely Large
Small Increasing
Danger Same Decreasing
Danger over the next 24 hrs Its been just 48 hours since the havoc of the early Friday avalanche cycle, and I was looking forward to increasing stability and a pockety avalanche problem. With the rapid overnight warming and a nod to old Peter Lev, all bets are off. 10,000 temperatures enroute highs in the low thirties, light winds, and a high sun will conspire to exacerbate the shear stress within our already shell-shocked snowpack. By tugging the slab downhill through rapidly increasing the creep rate and then softening the slab for human-triggerability, the temperatures will play the starring role in avalanche activity today. Its effects are less well understood than additional snowfall or strong winds, put its a player all the same. There will be plenty of wet activity on the sun-exposed slopes today, but the effects Im laboring to describe will be most pronounced on the northwest through easterly aspects the terrain with the weak underlying snowpack. Exercise caution yet another day.
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND Likely
Unlikely Large
Small Increasing
Danger Same Decreasing
Danger over the next 10 hrs See above for the steep sun-exposed slopes. Avoid the sunny slopes once their starting to shed rollerballs and become unsupportable.
MOUNTAIN WEATHER >>> LINKS TO MORE INFO
UAC COMPILATION
NWS ZONAL FORECAST
SEASONAL Wx CHARTS Well see mostly clear skies with a few clouds during the day today. The winds will back to the west but remain generally light. Well see a weak disturbance late Monday with another system possible for late Thursday.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS >>> The Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew in Cardiff, Silver, Grizzly, and American Fork, and today will be in AF, Snake Creek, the Sessions and Lambs. With questions regarding their areas of operation call 742-2800.
uac@avalanche.org (uac@avalanche.org). (Fax 801-524-6301)I will update this advisory by 7:30 on Monday morning, and thanks for calling.
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.
This advisory provided by the Wasatch Cache National Forest, in partnership with: Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Department of Emergency Services and Homeland Security and Salt Lake County
The post was created using an automated process maintained by First Tracks! Online.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT >>> A SPECIAL AVALANCHE ADVISORY CONTINUES FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN UTAH. RECENT HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS HAS LED TO DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS ON STEEP MOUNTAIN SLOPES. LARGE UNSURVIVABLE AVALANCHES HAVE RELEASED OVER THE PAST TWO DAYS. THOSE WITHOUT EXCELLENT AVALANCHE AND ROUTE FINDING SKILLS SHOULD AVOID THE BACKCOUNTRY.
SUMMARY >>> Danger by
ASPECT & ELEVATION
BOTTOM LINE
on slopes over 35 degrees
The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE today on slopes approaching 35 degrees and steeper on northwest through the easterly aspects. Large natural avalanches will be possible with daytime warming. Human triggered slides will be probable with sensitivity peaking with daytime warming. The danger of wet avalanche activity will rise to CONSIDERABLE on all steep sun-exposed slopes. Cornices will continue to be sensitive so give them a wide berth.
Forecaster: Drew Hardesty LINKS: -Danger scale- -Encyclopedia- -Text only- CURRENT CONDITIONS >>> LINKS TO MORE INFO: NWS SNOW PAGESNOTEL MAP
Skies are clear with the full moon just starting to wane. The northerly winds are generally light and the mountain temperatures will be the issue for today. Temperatures this morning are universally 20-25 degrees warmer than they were 24 hours ago. Theyre in the low to mid-twenties with colder readings in the drainages and mountain basins.
RECENT AVALANCHES AND SNOWPACK INFO >>> LINKS TO MORE INFO
AVALANCHE LISTPHOTOSACCIDENTSSNOW PROFILES For an avalanche forecaster, its an embarrassment of riches with all the activity during and since the natural cycle Thursday night into Friday morning. And, as far as we heard, no real close calls or incidents. It has been, thankfully, a ghost town in many of the backcountry areas, and I appreciate folks discipline in avoiding or tip-toe-ing around the more exposed avalanche prone-terrain. We did hear about a skier-released avalanche in the Upper Mary Chutes in the Brighton backcountry up to 3 deep, but details were few. Another party triggered a massive cornice along the Wolverine Cirque, pulling out a monster down below 4-7? deep and a couple hundred feet wide. Explosive testing by the Wasatch Powderbird Guides from the helicopter for protection of Big Cottonwood Canyon and elsewhere in the backcountry produced massive slides up to 4-6 deep with many described as wall-to-wall. The lead UDOT forecaster in BCC, who makes an art out of the understatement, described yesterdays explosive release-avalanche in Stairs Gulch as impressive. It ran within 1000 of the road. Many other photos keep piling in and can be found on our photos page here.
AVALANCHE CONCERNS >>> WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND Likely
Unlikely Large
Small Increasing
Danger Same Decreasing
Danger over the next 24 hrs Its been just 48 hours since the havoc of the early Friday avalanche cycle, and I was looking forward to increasing stability and a pockety avalanche problem. With the rapid overnight warming and a nod to old Peter Lev, all bets are off. 10,000 temperatures enroute highs in the low thirties, light winds, and a high sun will conspire to exacerbate the shear stress within our already shell-shocked snowpack. By tugging the slab downhill through rapidly increasing the creep rate and then softening the slab for human-triggerability, the temperatures will play the starring role in avalanche activity today. Its effects are less well understood than additional snowfall or strong winds, put its a player all the same. There will be plenty of wet activity on the sun-exposed slopes today, but the effects Im laboring to describe will be most pronounced on the northwest through easterly aspects the terrain with the weak underlying snowpack. Exercise caution yet another day.
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND Likely
Unlikely Large
Small Increasing
Danger Same Decreasing
Danger over the next 10 hrs See above for the steep sun-exposed slopes. Avoid the sunny slopes once their starting to shed rollerballs and become unsupportable.
MOUNTAIN WEATHER >>> LINKS TO MORE INFO
UAC COMPILATION
NWS ZONAL FORECAST
SEASONAL Wx CHARTS Well see mostly clear skies with a few clouds during the day today. The winds will back to the west but remain generally light. Well see a weak disturbance late Monday with another system possible for late Thursday.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS >>> The Wasatch Powderbird Guides flew in Cardiff, Silver, Grizzly, and American Fork, and today will be in AF, Snake Creek, the Sessions and Lambs. With questions regarding their areas of operation call 742-2800.
uac@avalanche.org (uac@avalanche.org). (Fax 801-524-6301)I will update this advisory by 7:30 on Monday morning, and thanks for calling.
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.
This advisory provided by the Wasatch Cache National Forest, in partnership with: Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Department of Emergency Services and Homeland Security and Salt Lake County
The post was created using an automated process maintained by First Tracks! Online.