Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Salt Lake Area Mountains Issued by Brett Kobernik for Saturday - April 5, 2014 - 6:55am
bottom line

The avalanche danger is generally LOW this morning. It may rise to MODERATE during the day if we see any periods of intense snowfall or solar heating. Get out of confined terrain if you noticed either of these situations occurring.
special announcement

SALE! on all remaining discount lift tickets donated to the Utah Avalanche Center from Snowbasin, the Canyons, Beaver Mountain, Sundance, and Brian Head: The few remaining tickets are being blown out with all proceeds used to pay for avalanche advisories and education. Go here to get your tickets.
current conditions

Winds are light from the southwest and overnight ridgetop temperatures were in the low to mid 20s. Skies are broken to overcast. You will find lots of heat crusts on the surface from the warming yesterday.
recent activity

Things got warm enough Friday afternoon to produce some wet loose naturals and a little skier initiated wet activity. This was fairly predictable and didn't pose much threat unless you were standing below at the wrong time.
Avalanche Problem 1
type aspect/elevation characteristics
LIKELIHOOD
LIKELY
UNLIKELY
SIZE
LARGE
SMALL
TREND
INCREASING DANGER
SAME
DECREASING DANGER
over the next 10 hours
description

As is often the case in the springtime, any avalanche danger today will be directly related to today's weather. There are two scenarios you should think about today.

NEW SNOW - We will see a minor storm move through today which won't add a whole lot of snow but could stack up a few inches fairly rapidly. The biggest concern here is if you are in confined terrain such as a chute or coulior and a small loose snow avalanche releases high above you during the intense snowfall. We usually hear of a person or two each season who get "flushed" out of a chute in these conditions.

WARMING - In the spring, you should always anticipate what is going to happen if the sun breaks out and starts warming the snow. New snow can become unstable very rapidly when it first sees the sun. If we do pick up a few inches of snow, be mindful that there could be wet loose snow avalanches following a brief period of sun.
weather

We'll see scattered periods of snow today, perhaps more so mid day. We might see a few inches of accumulation. Winds will remain light from a westerly direction. 8000 foot temperatures will be in the mid 30s and around freezing along the ridges. Winds increase from the northwest on Sunday with flurries possible and not much accumulation expected. It looks like we will go into a significant warming trend next week with 700mb temps above 0C for most of the week (+5C by Weds). We will want to pay close attention to how this affects our avalanche conditions.
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 or 800-662-4140, 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 We have switched to a new SLC email advisory system. If you would like to get the daily advisory by email, or if you have been getting the advisory by email since the beginning of the season and wish to continue, 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

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.uned.

Wasatch Powderbird Guides Blog/Itinerary for the Day.  

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

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.  Some allow uphill travel and have guidelines, some don't. Contact the Ski Patrol at each resort for details. IMPORTANT: Before skinning 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.