Salt Lake Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Brett Kobernik

BOTTOM LINE

Danger by aspect and elevation on slopes approaching 35° or steeper.
(click HERE for tomorrow's danger rating)


Danger Rose Tutorial

Most terrain has a MODERATE avalanche danger but it will rise toward CONSIDERABLE on slopes that are getting direct sun. I would continue to avoid steeper slopes that are getting direct sun and give cornices a wide berth.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

Temperatures were similar or just slightly cooler overnight compared to Friday night. They were in the mid 20s and a few stations in the low 30s. Winds have been light from the west and are just increasing slightly. We had a period of high clouds move through that’s clearing out now. I suspect we still will have had a shallow refreeze of the snow surface.

RECENT ACTIVITY

The warmer weather continues to produce avalanche activity. Yesterday, a snow biker triggered a large slab avalanche on east facing Ant Knolls. It was about a foot and a half deep and a couple hundred feet wide. This is a repeater.

Another avalanche was noted on Saturday which released naturally after 1pm Friday on west facing Holy Toledo in Cardiff Fork. This is a repeater as well.

There are more reports filtering in of natural slab avalanches that have released recently due to the heat. There are also reports of glide cracks on the Mineral Slab and and a few glide avalanches in Broads Fork.

THREAT #1
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 8 hours.

Avalanche activity related to heating is your biggest concern today. The heating is enough to activate some of the buried weak layers within the snowpack causing large dangerous slab avalanches. It seems that they are most likely in shallower snowpack areas such as slopes that have already avalanched this season. Up to now, they have mostly been on east through south through west facing slopes with only a hint of north to any of them. Northerly slopes will most likely join in the activity sooner or later. With warm weather in store for today, I won’t be surprised to hear about a natural or human triggered slab avalanche.

THREAT #2
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 8 hours.

Be careful when approaching cornices as they will continue to get sensitive with the warming. They often will break back farther than you think they might.

MOUNTAIN WEATHER

We should see a period of mostly clear skies then some more thin clouds moving in later. Temperatures will get into the mid 40s at 8000 feet and upper 30s along the upper ridges. Southwest winds will gradually increase as the day goes on. This may help counteract some of the avalanche activity. There are a couple of disturbances that will move through over the next couple of days mostly just producing periods of clouds and southerly winds. Temperatures cool slightly.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry - especially if you are adjacent to a ski area – please call the following teams to alert them to the slide and whether anyone is missing or not. Rescue teams can be exposed to significant hazard when responding to avalanches, and do not want to do so when unneeded. Thanks.

Salt Lake and Park City – Alta Central (801-742-2033)

Ogden – Snowbasin Patrol Dispatch (801-620-1017)

Provo – Sundance Patrol Dispatch (801-223-4150)

Dawn Patrol Forecast Hotline, updated by 05:30: 888-999-4019 option 8.

Twitter Updates for your mobile phone http://utahavalanchecenter.org/twitter)

Daily observations are frequently posted by 10 pm each evening.

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UDOT canyon closures UDOT at (801) 975-4838

Wasatch Powderbird Guides does daily updates about where they'll be operating on this blog http://powderbird.blogspot.com/ .

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We will update this forecast tomorrow morning. Thanks for calling.

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done.  This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. 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 USDA Forest Service, in partnership with:

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, Utah Division of Emergency Management, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake Unified Fire Authority and the friends of the La Sal Avalanche Center. See our Sponsors Page for a complete list.