Thursday, March 31, 2005

   Good morning, this is Brett Kobernik with the Forest Service Utah
   Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather
   advisory.  Today is Thursday, March 31, 2005, and its 7:30 in the
   morning.

   Current Conditions:  
   Snowfall stopped in most mountain locations yesterday evening with the
   exception of the Cottonwoods picking up another 6 inches and around 4
   inches along the Park City Ridgeline.  This has been a significant
   snow storm for the northern Utah Mountains with Alta receiving 65
   inches since Monday.  Avalanches today have the potential to be large
   and deadly.  Skies are clearing with frigid temperatures in the single
   digits at many mountain locations.  Winds continue to blow from the
   northwest in the 15 to 20 mph range along the ridges but are showing
   signs of tapering off.

   Avalanche Conditions: 
   As expected with any large, windy snowfall event, there was no
   shortage of avalanche activity on Wednesday.  There was a widespread
   natural avalanche cycle in the Cottonwoods and the Mill Creek area
   that produced avalanches of all sizes.  These were ranging from 12
   inches to 3 feet deep.  The Little Pine slide path in Little
   Cottonwood canyon pulled out naturally and covered the highway.  A
   large natural avalanche in the mountains southeast of Salem started at
   around 10,000 feet and roared into a residential area luckily not
   hitting any houses.  Control work at the ski resorts brought out
   numerous slab avalanches.  A group of skiers in Mill D North on the
   Short Swing run were able to trigger a slab 12-18 deep, 100 feet wide
   that ran 100 to 150 feet vertical distance on a steep northwest facing
   roll.  No one was caught.

   For today, its pretty cut and dry.  Dont screw around on or below
   steep slopes.  People in the know are avoiding all steep wind loaded
   terrain.  This is mainly northeast through south facing slopes but you
   will need to pay attention to any cross loading on other aspects as
   well.  The other concern for today will be the affect of direct sun on
   the fresh snow.  Although temperatures at 10,000 are not supposed to
   get real warm today, the direct radiation from the sun will have a big
   impact on the newest snow.  East, south, and west facing slopes are
   highly suspect for large natural avalanches today due to heating.
   Also, keep an eye on what is happening at lower elevations even on
   north aspects as these places will be warming as well.  Stay well
   clear of run out zones as avalanches have the potential to run quite
   far.

   Bottom Line (Salt Lake and Park City, Ogden and Provo mountains)
   The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on any steep slope that has
   recent deposits of wind drifted snow.  CONSIDERABLE means natural
   avalanches are possible and human triggered avalanches are probable.
   People will most likely be able to trigger avalanches on steep slopes
   with fresh wind slabs and natural avalanches are most likely to slide
   due to warming on steep slopes facing the sun.  This means slopes of
   35 degrees and steeper.  If you dont have excellent avalanche hazard
   evaluation skills, it probably is not the best day for you to go into
   the backcountry.

   Mountain Weather: 
   Today we will see partly cloudy skies and ridgetop temperatures in the
   low 20s.  There will be enough sun to affect the snow so again stay
   off of and out from underneath any slopes that will be receiving the
   sun.  Winds will become light and variable by around noon.  Clear
   skies and warmer temperatures are in store for Friday so we will again
   need to pay attention to wet avalanche activity.

   A quick moving but energetic storm is still on track for Monday with a
   spring like ridge building in after.

   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.