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| Advisory: Salt Lake Area Mountains | Issued by Brett Kobernik for Monday - February 2, 2015 - 7:06am |
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bottom line Most terrain has a LOW avalanche danger today. Watch for "pockety" wind slabs along the mid and upper elevation ridges especially on the easterly facing terrain and consider consequences if you're in radical terrain. Continue to prod and jump on any fresh drifts in safe terrain to get a feel of how sensitive they are.
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current conditions Weather and snow over the weekend felt more like April to me than early February. Saturday brought a few inches of new snow which was damp at lower elevations but held 'powder like' conditions on the upper elevation northerly slopes. With the very mild temperatures, the lower elevation snowpack was completely saturated below around 7500 feet and many slopes became wet during the day. Skies cleared out Saturday night with a good solid refreeze and we were left with lots of crusts which didn't soften all that much on Sunday. The 3 inches or so from Saturday is still powdery on the northerly facing terrain. That snow sits on various sun and wind crusts and a few spots of dense near surface facets. These hidden crusts are somewhat unpredictable while riding. I did note a few plumes coming off the peaks from the north Sunday morning. Temperatures overnight were in the low to mid 20s and west northwest winds increased in speed along the mid elevations for a period and appear to be slowing again. The highest most exposed terrain continues to see somewhat breezy conditions with averages in the 30s. 1 to 2 inches of snow fell overnight and it's currently snowing lightly. |
| type | aspect/elevation | characteristics |
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LIKELIHOOD
 LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
 LARGE
SMALL
TREND
 INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
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description
Minor wind slabs along the lee sides of the ridges will be the only thing you'll really need to watch for today. These should be fairly "pockety" in distribution and shouldn't be all that big. I'm thinking they won't pose a huge threat unless you are in steep, exposed, radical terrain. Watch for cracking as you travel which would indicate these fresh drifts may be sensitive. |
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weather We're going to see cloudy skies with periods of snow over the next couple of days. This actually could add up to a nice little refresher by the time it's all said and done on Wednesday. We're only anticipating a trace to a few inches today. Ridgetop temperatures will be in the mid to upper 20s and winds will be in the moderate speed range from the west northwest. Expect slightly stronger and more steady winds along the highest terrain. |
| general announcements Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram. 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), Canyons Resort Dispatch (435-615-3322) Snowbasin Resort Dispatch (801-620-1017), Powder Mountain Dispatch (801-745-3772 x 123). Sundance Dispatch (801-223-4150) EMAIL ADVISORY If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here. DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8. Twitter Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS UDOT canyon closures: LINK TO UDOT, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools. Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day. Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/ Discount lift tickets are now available at Backcountry.com. Thanks to Ski Utah and the Utah Resorts. All proceeds go towards paying for Utah Avalanche Center avalanche and mountain weather advisories. To those skinning uphill at resorts: it is your responsibility to know the resort policy on uphill travel. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here. IMPORTANT: Before skinning or hiking at a resort under new snow conditions, check in with Ski Patrol. Resorts can restrict or cut off access if incompatible with control and grooming operations. Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing! Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny. 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 exist. |
