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
“keeping
you on top”
AVALANCHE ADVISORY
Tuesday,
March 27, 2007 7:30 am
Good morning, this is Evelyn Lees with
the
Current Conditions:
A cold, powerful storm
is tantalizingly close…but we’re still a day away from enjoying deep, fresh
powder. Ahead of the storm, it will be a
warm, blustery morning, with heavy snowfall not expected to start until mid afternoon. The strong southerly winds are in the 25 to 35
mph range, with gusts in the 50’s to 70’s across peaks favored by this
flow. 10,000’ temperatures are in the
low to mid 30’s this morning, with readings in the low 40’s at 8,000’. The old
snow surface is mostly frozen crusts, with a just a few remnants of soft snow
on steep, upper elevation northerly facing slopes.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion:
No new avalanches were
reported from the backcountry yesterday.
There is not much snow
available for transport this morning, but with gale force winds, don’t over
look any shallow drifts that may form. They
could be well off the ridgelines, and should be avoided on steep slopes. Once snow starts to fall this afternoon, the
strong southerly winds will rapidly create fresh drifts of snow, especially on northerly
facing slopes, which could get deep enough by dark to catch and carry a person.
The new snow will be
landing on stout, strong crusts on most aspects, but on northwest, north and
northeasterly facing slopes there are a few weak layers in the upper foot of the
old snow. This weak snow, below thin surface
crusts or a denser heat layer, may get overloaded with the new snow and is worth
keeping track of. These layers change
rapidly with just a few degrees difference in slope angle and aspect, so check
them out efficiently with quick hand and pole pits.
Bottom Line for the
The avalanche danger
is generally LOW this morning, but will rise to MODERATE late this afternoon on any slope steeper than about
35 degrees with fresh drifts of wind blown snow.
Mountain Weather:
A cold, vigorous storm
moving across
Announcements:
The Wasatch Powderbird
Guides were in Cascade and American Fork yesterday, and will not be flying
today. For more info, call 742-2800.
Listen to the advisory. Try our new streaming audio or podcasts
UDOT highway avalanche
control work info can be found HERE
or by calling (801)
975-4838.
Our
statewide tollfree line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, option 8).
For a list of avalanche
classes, click HERE
For our classic text advisory click HERE.
To sign up for automated e-mails of our graphical advisory click HERE
We appreciate all the great
snowpack and avalanche observations we’ve been getting, so keep leaving us messages
at (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at [email protected]. (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.
Brett Kobernik will update this advisory by 7:30 on Wednesday morning,
and thanks for calling.