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| Advisory: Skyline Area Mountains | Issued by Craig Gordon for Friday - January 10, 2014 - 6:26am |
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bottom line A CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger exists on steep, upper elevation, wind drifted slopes, especially those facing the north half of the compass and human triggered avalanches are likely. Steep, northeast and east facing slopes are the most dangerous. A MODERATE avalanche is found at mid elevations where human triggered avalanches are possible on steep, wind drifted slopes. Wind sheltered terrain offers LOW avalanche danger
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avalanche watch A SERIES OF STORMS... ACCOMPANIED WITH STRONG WINDS...WILL GRADUALLY OVERLOAD THE PREEXISTING WEAK LAYERS IN THE SNOW PACK. THE AVALANCHE DANGER IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE THROUGH THE WEEKEND. BACKCOUNTRY TRAVELERS SHOULD AVOID TRAVEL ON AND BELOW STEEP SLOPES. |
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current conditions This is a collaborative effort between Trent Meisenheimer and Craig Gordon The northwest winds picked up around 5:00 pm yesterday allowing for a quick hitting storm to drop 6-8 inches of snow across the Wasatch Plateau. This morning, winds are blowing from the southwest at 10 mph gusting into the 30's at the upper elevations and temperatures are in the upper teens to low 20s. The snowpack averages about 2 feet in depth along the mid and upper elevations and it mostly weak and sugary. As the snow continues to stack up, expect a rising avalanche danger over the weekend. |
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recent activity Yesterday in our travels we noted minor collapsing and cracking within the new snow. Don't let the lack of activity fool you, we are in a dangerous pattern across the Wasatch Plateau. |
| 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
The biggest concern today are fresh drifts along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges. The wind may have drifted enough snow to overload the buried weak, sugary snow near the ground. Our snowpack is fragile and avalanche conditions will become more dangerous as the weekend storm develops. With more snow and wind on the way, avalanches have the potential to break into weak pre-existing snow, creating an unmanageable slide. The biggest danger of being caught in an avalanche right now is getting dragged through all the rocks and stumps, barely covered by our shallow snowpack. At the very least, you're looking at a season ending injury. Best to avoid being in avalanche terrain today. Stick to gentle, wind sheltered slopes and avoid being under or adjacent to slide paths. You can find good riding in the trees and low angle meadows.
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weather We'll see mostly overcast skies with few more inches of accumulation as the storm exits the region. Southwest winds are generally light, with the exposed peaks gusting into the 20's and 30s. Temperatures should hover in the low 20's today. A warming trend impacts the state later this evening and into Saturday. A break in the action allows for some sun to poke through, before winds increase late Saturday as yet another juicier storm is on tap, bringing a good shot of snow through Sunday. Next week looks like high pressure builds and sunny, clear conditions return.
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| general announcements Remember your information can save lives. Please let us and the rest of the community know what you are seeing out there by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. This is a great time of year to schedule a free avalanche awareness presentation for your group or club. Contact either Craig Gordon or Brett Kobernik by emailing us: Donate to your favorite non-profit –The Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work. 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. Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools. The information in this advisory is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur. We will update this advisory by 7:00 AM on Saturday Jan. 11, 2014 |
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