With the recent snow fall we have received in recent days it’s important to know about avalanche safety when going out to the back country. Castle Country Radio was able to speak with Bret Kobernik with the Utah Avalanche Center about the latest conditions.
“So really the bread and butter of the Utah Avalanche Center are the daily avalanche forecasts. We cover the state of Utah areas from Logan all the way down through the Abajo Mountains and we produce these daily forecasts. Avalanche forecasters go out into the mountains and gather data, and then we write daily avalanche forecasts that tell about the snow, weather, and how dangerous the conditions are for a given day,” said Kobernik. Individuals can find this information out on the Utah Avalanche Center website where they can see current danger ratings, forecasts, and events. There are also educational opportunities on the website where individuals can learn about avalanches in the comfort of their own home.
The process to forecast an avalanche is field based data as Kobernik explains, “We go out there and we look at the different layers of snow pack. The snow pack not just one giant lump of snow, it’s many layers that are produce through the winter with each storm and those layers interact differently with each other. So it’s our job to go up there and try to decipher how these layers are interacting with each other. We look for weak layers of snow basically. Once those weak layers are buried that is when you are more likely to have these dangerous avalanche conditions.” The Utah Avalanche Center is constantly monitoring the conditions in the back country.
As for the conditions on the Manti LaSal National Forest it currently is listed as high avalanche danger. “What that means is steep slopes, so any slope that’s steeper than about 30 degrees in slope steepness is prone to avalanching. So if you stay off of and out from underneath slopes of 30 degrees or less, than you will stay safe in the back country. That’s really part of the key to safe recreation up on the Manti Skyline,” said Kobernik
To learn more about the Utah Avalanche Center visit their website at https://utahavalanchecenter.org/