In partnership with: Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center and Utah State Parks.
Good morning, this is Craig Gordon with the Forest Service
Utah Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory for the
western Uinta Mountains. Today is Wednesday November 26, 2003 and it’s 7:30 in
the morning.
Current conditions:
Just an inch of new snow has fallen in the past 24
hrs but there’s a decent looking winter storm knocking at the door and snowfall
should begin in earnest within the next couple of hours. Winds are out of the
northwest at speeds of 15-20 mph, gusting into the low 30’s along the more exposed,
upper elevation ridgelines. Temperatures have remained cold overnight and it’s
10 degrees at 10,000’. Good riding and turning conditions can be found on a
mostly supportable base and it should get better as the day wears on. However,
coverage is still pretty thin with snow depths only about 3’ above timberline so
you’ll need to have your rock radar in tune if you plan to venture off the
beaten track. Trail riding or turns on a smooth grassy slope continues to be
the best bet at this time.
Avalanche Conditions:
The cold temperatures we’ve experienced the past few
days are starting to weaken the snowpack near the ground as well as in the upper
layers. This is most prevalent above about 9,000’ where the pack remains relatively
shallow and the underlying terrain is rocky. Yesterday I was getting fairly clean,
albeit stubborn shears on a layer of surface facets within the upper third of
our snowpack. These weak facets are sandwiched between two wind-crusts, which
vary in strength depending on elevation and aspect. In the more wind-exposed
terrain throughout the range this crust is quite stout and will be a perfect
bed surface for today’s avalanches to run on. The combination of light density
snow and moderate winds will form fairly sensitive slab conditions as the day
progresses and avalanches may run a little further and faster than you might
expect.
In steep rocky terrain where the snowpack is shallow
the weaknesses near the ground are becoming more apparent and there is an
isolated possibility that an avalanche could break into weak layers deeper in
the snowpack.
With a good shot of snow headed our way today, expect the avalanche danger to be on the rise, particularly in steep upper elevation terrain.
Bottom Line:
At mid and upper elevations the avalanche danger is MODERATE this morning on slopes
steeper than about 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind-drifted snow. Human
triggered avalanches are possible.
The avalanche danger could rise to CONSIDERABLE in this type of terrain,
especially if we receive more snow or wind than is forecast.
In wind sheltered mid and low elevation terrain the
avalanche danger is generally LOW today.
Mountain Weather:
There is a snow
advisory in effect for the region today as a Pacific storm system moves through
northern portions of the state. Skies will be cloudy and temperatures should
remain cold today with highs at 8,000’ in the upper teens and at 10,000’ near 10
degrees. Overnight lows will hover around 15 degrees. Winds will be out of the
northwest at speeds of 15-25 mph along the ridges with occasional gusts in the
low 30’s. It looks like we can expect 5-10” of snow throughout the day with
snowfall rates decreasing late this afternoon. Thursday should be partly cloudy
and a warming trend is forecast through the weekend. Another shot of snow might
be headed our way for Saturday, but at this time there is little confidence in
it being a big snow producer.
General Information:
We can always use snow information and observations
from riders and skiers are a vital component to this program. So if you see or
trigger an avalanche give us a call at 801-231-2170 or 1-800-662-4140.
Also, if you’d
like to schedule a free avalanche awareness talk and/or field day give us a
call at 801-524-5304.
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.
I will update this advisory by 7:30 on Thursday morning.
Thanks for
calling.