US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National
Forest
Introduction: Good
morning! This is Max Forgensi
with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your
avalanche and mountain weather advisory.
Today is Friday, December 16th at 8:00 a.m. This advisory
will expire in 24 hours.
To see past advisories check out the ARCHIVE. To see current conditions go to our WEATHER PAGE. To see photos go to the AVIPHOTOS page.
General Conditions:
A Low Pressure system over the Great
Lakes is trying to spread some of its
moisture our way. We may just see high
clouds and colder temperatures from these short waves of energy…if we are
lucky we might see some flakes in the sky up in the mountains. It appears to be another good day to do some
ice skating, although there is enough snow to get up and do some Skate/Nordic
Skiing. Backcountry skiing is currently limited
to only a couple of select spots up in the La Sals. Plenty of ground hazards exist to trip you up,
so be careful! The Grand County Road
Department did plow the road, although it is still icy and snow packed in
spots. 4WD and chains are recommended.
Current Conditions: (click location for latest data)
Geyser
Pass Trailhead (9,600’): 5. 0”
at the SNOTEL. 12
degrees at the trailhead at 7:00
a.m.
Gold Basin and South Mountain:
20” of settled snow on the ground.
Pre-Laurel Peak
Weather Station (11,705’): We are currently
waiting on a piece of radio equipment to come in, once we get it, we should be
ready to go!
Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’)
Today: Partly cloudy, with a high around 19. West northwest wind between 10 and
15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Tonight: A 20 percent chance of snow. Partly cloudy, with a low around 9. West northwest wind between
10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Saturday: A 30 percent chance of snow. Partly cloudy,
with a high near 19. West wind between 10 and 15 mph,
with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Avalanche Conditions: (Link to the
International Avalanche Danger Scale here)
I cannot sound like a broken record anymore! The La Sal Mountains are a perfect place to
go and get your dose of snow in and around the Moab area.
Although the snow pack is shallow, it is as good as anytime to break
your legs into a good high-altitude cardiovascular workout and hone in your
transitions. If you are going up to
enjoy winter in the desert, there is some areas that
you want to look out for. North aspects
at and just below tree-line is where you will find our weakest snowpack. You will
find amazing amounts of sugar snow; i.e. depth hoar, facets…which in turn
has no strength and can avalanche to the ground if an unsuspecting backcountry
skier places his turn or ski cut the wrong (or right) place to initiate this
failure. Any avalanches will use trees,
rocks, logs and humans to connect the dots and make a crown line. The BOTTOM
LINE in these areas is going to be MODERATE. The rest of the range is going to have a
hazard rating of LOW.