avalanche

There are been some snow storms in our area that have hit the backcountry in recent weeks and with the holidays coming up, folks are possibly going to go up to hunt for Christmas trees so it’s important to know about avalanche safety when going out to the backcountry. Castle Country Radio was able to speak with the Utah Avalanche Center’s Bret Kobernik about the latest conditions.

“We’ve had a couple pretty decent storms and in the highest most favorable locations you’ll find up to three feet. On average, some folks are going up into the canyons right now, you’re going to find anywhere from six inches down low in the canyons, to about two feet. Most places up in the higher country, once you get around 8500 to 9500 feet in elevation, you’re finding about two feet of snow. There is enough for folks to start recreating up there,” stated Kobernik. There is not quite enough snow to get off track to recreate but it will soon be here before we know it.

Right now, the little snow that is up there in the mountains has been sitting for a while and when a new storm does come in again it could pose as a bit of danger. “What happens is when snow sits around for long periods of time it turns into this really sugary grain that it doesn’t compact well and once, we get more storms on top of that loose sugary snow, it can act as a weak layer of snow and cause avalanches,” said Kobernik. That is why it’s very important for folks to check the avalanche conditions before heading out to enjoy the backcountry.

“Currently we’ve got a pretty low avalanche danger and it will stay low for quite some time until the next storm. Once the next storms start rolling through, we’ll have to reevaluate then. But folks can check out avalanche information on our website at https://utahavalanchecenter.org/” said Kibernick.  The Utah Avalanche Center is constantly monitoring the conditions in the backcountry.

 

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