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.

AVALANCHE ADVISORY

Tuesday, March 14, 2006 12:00am update
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Tuesday, March 14, 2006, and it’s about 7:30 am.

An initial report from the Snowbasin backcountry incident can be found here.

Updated Bottom Line:

12 pm update:  Today is a day of increasing avalanche danger as the winds continue to transport snow and create fresh wind drifts. The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on all steep, wind drifted slopes and in the most exposed terrain has risen to HIGH.  Natural avalanche are already being reported from many locations in the Salt Lake, Park City and Provo area mountains. Avoid travel in avalanche runout zones below steep slopes.  The avalanche danger may rise to MODERATE on steep sunny slopes with day time heating.

Current Conditions:

Today, a combination of sun and wind will crash the powder party. The southerly winds have already increased into the 25 to 30 mph range across the higher peaks favored by southwest flow, with gusts to near 40. More sheltered stations have speeds in the teens, with gusts in the mid 20’s. Skies are clear, and temperatures are once again in the single digits and low teens.

Yesterday’s cloud cover varied drainage to drainage, so while most aspects will have epic powder this morning, a few slopes were heat affected yesterday. But get the goods fast, as the sunny slopes will rapidly go “off” and wind damage will increase through out the day.

Recent Avalanche Activity & Snowpack Discussion:

Avalanche activity reported from the Salt Lake and Provo mountains yesterday was of numerous natural loose snow and very shallow soft slab avalanches running early in the morning, with similar sluffs and shallow soft slabs easily triggered with ski cuts later in day. These were on most aspects, on slopes of about 40 degrees or steeper. A few deeper pockets were triggered, 1 to 1 ½ feet deep and up to 80’ wide, including one on an east facing, lower roll over at 8600' and a few 2’ deep by 150’ wide slides released by control work.

Today's sun and moderate to strong southerly winds will be rapidly changing the landscape. There is almost limitless, light snow available for transport, and the moderate to strong southerly winds will be blowing the snow into sensitive drifts that will be easy to trigger on steep slopes. While soft, they will still be large enough to carry and bury a person. Natural avalanche may be possible. Look for and avoid the new drifts both along the ridges, and off the ridge lines where they will be cross loaded around gully walls, sub ridges and steep breakovers.

Clear skies, strong sun and warming temperatures may combine to give us a brief wet slide cycle until the clouds move in later today. The cold snow will be sensitive to the rapid heating, and it may be easy to trigger sluffs and shallow soft slabs on steep sunny slopes and lower elevation shady slopes. It may even be possible for a few natural wet sluffs to occur, so avoid travel beneath steep sunny slopes

Bottom Line:

12 pm update:  Today is a day of increasing avalanche danger as the winds continue to transport snow and create fresh wind drifts. The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on all steep, wind drifted slopes and in the most exposed terrain has risen to HIGH.  Natural avalanche are already being reported from many locations in the Salt Lake, Park City and Provo area mountains. Avoid travel in avalanche runout zones below steep slopes.  The avalanche danger may rise to MODERATE on steep sunny slopes with day time heating.

Mountain Weather:

A ridge of high pressure will slide east of the area today as another storm system heads into the western Great Basin tonight. Skies will be mostly sunny this morning, with increasing clouds and a chance for flurries late in the day. The southerly winds will increase into the 25 to 30 mph range across the ridgelines, with higher speeds across the tallest peaks. Temperatures will warm today into the mid 30’s at 8,000’ and the upper teens at 10,000’. 4 to 8” of snow are possible from this next storm, with the heaviest precipitation after midnight around frontal passage. A break on Thursday, with another small shot of snow possible Friday night.

Announcements:

Here is a great link to a web site on avalanche beacon information, created by a person who did independent research and testing of avalanche beacons. http://beaconreviews.com

There are several free automated avalanche beacon practice areas open, including one at Canyons, one on the by-pass road near Snowbird, one in the northwest corner of the lower lot at Solitude, and at the Nobletts parking area on the Mirror Lake highway. They are really easy to use, and well worth stopping for a quick practice session.

Early birds and snow geeks can catch our 6AM report at 364-1591.

Click here to check out our new online avalanche encyclopedia.

Click HERE for a text only version of the avalanche advisory.

To have this advisory automatically e-mailed to you each day, click HERE.

UDOT also has a highway avalanche control work hotline for Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood, and Provo canyons, which is updated as needed. 801-975-4838.

The Wasatch Powderbird Guides didn’t get out yesterday and today they will fly in Cardiff, Days, Silver, Grizzly, American Fork and maybe Cascade. For more info, call 742-2800.

Please report any backcountry snow and avalanche conditions. Call (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, email uac@avalanche.org or fax 801-524-6301. 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 will update this advisory by 7:30 Wednesday morning. Thanks for calling.