Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Skyline Area Mountains Issued by Brett Kobernik for Tuesday - November 29, 2016 - 7:05am
bottom line

The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE along the higher terrain especially where the wind has been drifting snow. Let all the new snow settle for a day or so before venturing into steeper upper elevation terrain.
current conditions

This has been a great storm for the Manti Skyline. We received a few more inches overnight and it's still snowing at 6:30am. Total snow depths are in the 2 to 3 foot range. Here are the Snotel total depth (HS) readings from this morning:

  • Mammoth Cottonwood - 35"
  • GBRC Meadows - 27"
  • Mt Baldy - 38"

Temperatures are in the low teens. The wind was pretty blustery along the higher ridges mid day on Monday and has slowed a bit since then. The wind is quite well behaved away from the higher terrain.
recent activity

Visibility didn't allow for much viewing on Monday. I was able to spot one decent size cornice that had broken off. It did not look like it triggered anything below as far as I could see. My best guess is that this is the type of avalanche activity that was occurring throughout the high country yesterday.
Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 24 hours
description

We don't know a whole lot about the structure of our snowpack just yet so we need to treat it as "guilty" until we can prove otherwise. While I was poking around checking snow depths at various locations yesterday, I noticed an inverted layer near the ground. This is one of the clues we look for which indicates instability. I'm not sure how widespread this layering is or if it is really even a factor. However, it made me take note. We'll have more details on the snowpack structure as we are able to travel around a bit more after the storm.
weather

The current storm will be winding down today. We'll have cloudy skies. A few more inches of snow are possible. West northwest wind will stay in check for the most part. I'm anticipating it will be a little gusty in the most exposed locations.

Wednesday looks pretty clear then another storm will move through Thursday perhaps giving us another shot of snow. The weekend is looking pretty nice with clear weather.
general announcements

We will publish full detailed advisories Saturday and Sunday mornings by 7am. We will also be publishing basic avalanche danger ratings & info during the week.

If you are getting out into the mountains, we love to hear from you! You can SUBMIT OBSERVATIONS ONLINE or EMAIL US

If you would like to have avalanche advisories emailed to you, SIGN UP HERE

We can provide basic avalanche awareness presentations for your school, group or club. To enquire, CLICK HERE