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Show With Avalanche Warning A Phone Call Could Save Lives Region. Daily back-country back-country forecasts for the mountain ranges surrounding Jackson, Wyoming, are provided . by the Bridger-Teton National Foresl. Ap- Before you ski, hike or snowmobile in the backcountry of Utah this winter, make one phone call that could save your life. Dial (801) 364-3214 for a report on avalanche danger. "This phone number connects you with the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center al the Salt Lake City airport," says Scott Phillips, winter sports planner with the U.S. Department Depart-ment of Agriculture's Forest Service. The main purpose of thfi"enler, which is a cooperative venture of the Forest Service and the National Weather Service, is to warn the public of dangerous avalanche conditions. A secondary objective is to give the public weather information and predictions concerning con-cerning impending storms. "There is an average of 12 avalanche fatalities each year in the United States," Phillips said. "Three people died in avalanches last year in the Intermountain Region, which includes Utah, Nevada, western Wyoming and southern Idaho. That number could have been higher without the public education efforts of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center and other warning systems in the Region." The Utah Avalanche Forecast Center - now in its second year of operation - reports on backcountry conditions from Provo Canyon on the south to the Utah-Idaho Utah-Idaho border on the north. It is manned by two experienced avalanche forecasters assigned to the Wasatch National Forecast Duain Bowles and Barry Mathias. They work closely with two National Weather . Service meteorologists -- Bill Adler and Glenn Rasch. Administrative management for the Center is the responsibility respon-sibility of Rogers Thomas of the Salt Lake District of the Wasatch National Forest. Bowles and Mathias depend on 40 field observers, ob-servers, mostly volunteers, for daily updates. The observers make readings of total snow depth, amount of new snow and its water content, air and snow temperatures, wind speed and direction, and any observed avalanche activity. They report this information to the Center at Salt Lake City. Bowles and Mathias integrate the information in-formation reported by the field observers with computer weather data and the advice of the National Weather Service meteorologists. They use all the information in-formation in compiling and recording a daily message. The recording is updated and put on a code-a-phone by 8 a.m. each morning. "Last year the Center had approximately 650 calls a day during the winter season," says Phillips. He expects the number of callers to increase as the service becomes more widely known. This year there are separate numbers for Ihe Ogden area -(801) 621-2362 -- and for the Provo area -- (801) 374-9770. Two local avalanche warning systems are operating in other areas of Ihe Intermountain proximately 50 calls a day in a 150-day season are received on the code-a-phone (307) 733-2664. 733-2664. Near Sun Valley, Idaho, the Forest Service Snow Ranger for the Ketchum District of the Sawtooth National Foresl prepares a daily message for the media limes of high avalanche hazard. Nationwide, three other full-scale Foresl Service avalanche warning programs are in operation. One is the Colorado Stale System operated by the Rocky Mountain Station from Fort Collins. A West Coast Program is run by the Pacific Norlhwesl Region based in Seattle. The third is in the stale of Alaska. |