Wasatch Cache and Uinta National Forests

In partnership with: Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center and Utah State Parks.

Avalanche ADVISORY

Good morning and merry Christmas! 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 Thursday, December 25, 2003 and it’s 7:30 a.m.

Current conditions:

Light snowfall began late last night and so far we’ve received about 3” of new snow in the upper elevations. Southwesterly winds have backed off for the moment with hourly averages in the teens and gusts in the mid 20’s along the ridgelines. Current 10,000’ temperatures are in the low 20’s. Upper elevation wind exposed terrain has gotten pretty beaten up the past few days; though on wind sheltered north facing slopes very good soft settled powder riding and turning conditions can be found.

Avalanche Conditions:

Winds have been the big news the past couple of days and it’s been blowing steadily up high now since early Tuesday morning. With plenty of old snow available for transport sensitive wind drifts were once again building yesterday. While pockety in nature and limited to the upper elevations, there were several reports of small human triggered slides throughout the range. Avalanche conditions are starting to become a little trickier as these wind slabs are now getting covered over with new snow, making them harder to detect.

Today the avalanche danger will be rising. I’d suspect that wind slabs would become more sensitive to added weight of a backcountry traveler this morning and certainly more widespread as the day progresses. Look for slabs to be forming on the leeward side of mid and upper elevation ridgelines and around terrain features such as sub-ridges, chutes, and gullies. Mid slope loading on steep breakovers should be suspect terrain as well. Once triggered, today’s avalanches have the possibility of breaking into deeper buried weak layers, particularly where the snowpack is shallow and weak. In addition cornices are starting to build and have the possibility of breaking back a little further than you might expect.

Many avalanche accidents and incidents occur during times of rising avalanche danger. Today you’ll need to be alert to the signs of instability such as cracking around your skis or machine and “whumphing” or collapsing of the snowpack. Now is the time to be utilizing your safe travel skills and only one person should be on the slope at a time. Have an escape route planned and communicate this with your partners. Needless to say, we should all be carrying beacons, shovels, and probes and should know how to use them.

Bottom Line:

At mid and upper elevations, the avalanche danger is MODERATE this morning on any steep slope with recent deposits of wind-drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are possible. Be aware that the avalanche danger could rapidly rise to CONSIDERABLE in this type of terrain, meaning human triggered avalanches are probable, especially if winds are stronger or if we receive more snow than forecast.

At low elevations and in wind-sheltered terrain on slopes less steep than about 30 degrees the avalanche danger is generally LOW today. Both human triggered and natural avalanches are unlikely. However, even if you’re playing in low angle terrain today, be aware of steep slopes above and adjacent to you.

Mountain Weather:

A winter storm warning is in effect for the region through Friday. Significant snowfall should start to develop later in the day and 5”-10” of new snow is forecast for today with the possibility of another 5”-10” overnight. Temperatures will be falling as the day progresses with highs at 10,000’ in the low to mid 20’s and at 8,000’ near 30 degrees. Overnight lows will be in the upper teens. Winds will remain out of the southwest until Friday morning, blowing at speeds of 15-25 mph with gusts near 40 mph along the upper elevation ridgelines. The strongest portion of the storm should arrive about midday Friday and that’s when snowfall rates should really kick into gear. This does look like a significant snow event for the area. Snow showers are expected for Saturday and Sunday with the next storm slated to move into the region on Monday.

General Information:

We can always use snow and avalanche information and your snowpack and avalanche observations could help to save someone’s life! 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.

This advisory will be updated by 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 26, 2003.

Thanks for calling.