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 Sunday, March 7, 2004 and it’s 7:30
a.m.
Current conditions:
Under clear skies and a big, beautiful moon, current
temperatures are in the mid teens at most mountaintop locations. The winds
continued to blow through most of the night with gusts in the 30’s along the
ridges, though this morning they’re more manageable, averaging 15 mph with
gusts in the low 20’s. It’s hard to say how much snow really fell yesterday,
since most of it wound up in Wyoming, but I’d guess somewhere between 4”-6”
actually hit the ground here in Utah. Yesterdays’ nuking winds severely damaged
nearly all the wind-exposed slopes out there, though in the most sheltered terrain
you can still find good powder riding and turning conditions.
Avalanche Conditions:
Wow, what a windstorm! Yesterdays’ hurricane force
winds were blasting along the ridges and were strong enough to knock you off
your feet if you weren’t prepared for the gusts. These burly winds made for
some pretty exciting avalanche activity, rapidly forming deep, sensitive
wind-drifts on leeward slopes. As a matter of fact, as my partner and I
traveled along the upper elevation ridges, cracks were propagating well out in
front of us, and we were able to trigger avalanches with well-placed ski cuts
and cornice drops.
Now that the dust has settled, the snowpack is
slowly adjusting to all the added weight slammed down on it and the slabs won’t
be quite as sensitive. That’s what makes today’s avalanche conditions even
trickier. As the slab gains strength it will allow you to get further out onto
a slope before it fails. You’ll want to steer clear of any steep, wind-loaded
slope today and the wind-drifts won’t be difficult to spot, as they are size of
small humpback whales.
Avalanches triggered today will be large and
dangerous and have the possibility of breaking into deeper, buried weak layers.
While many steep slopes have avalanched naturally, those that haven’t, hang in
the balance awaiting a trigger. It’s going to be hard to tell which slopes have
slid, as many of the crowns will be covered over with snow. So your safest bet
is to keep your slope angles down. Remember; even if you’re playing in low
angle terrain be aware of steep slopes above and adjacent to you.
In addition, a strong warming trend is on tap for
today. So, wet sluffs and even the possibility of wet slabs will play into the
mix as the surface snow heats up. Today you’ll need to get off of and out from
under steep sun-exposed slopes as the day wares on.
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE today on all slopes steeper than about 35 degrees
with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are
probable and natural avalanches are possible. Slides triggered today may break
into deeper, buried weak layers. This would result in a large, dangerous, and
possibly unsurvivable avalanche.
The danger of wet avalanche activity is MODERATE this morning, rising to CONSIDERABLE with daytime heating,
on all steep sun-exposed slopes.
In terrain less than 30 degrees, without steeper
wind-loaded slopes above them, the avalanche danger is generally LOW.
Mountain Weather:
High pressure
will become the dominant feature of our weather pattern through about midweek,
giving us mostly sunny skies and rapidly warming temperatures. Highs today at
10,000’ will be near freezing and at 8,000’ near 40 degrees. Overnight lows
will be in the mid 20’s. Winds will be out of the northwest at speeds of 10-20
mph and should become light and variable by early afternoon. For Monday and
Tuesday temperatures will rise dramatically and highs are forecast to reach 50
degrees before a weak cold front cools us down on Wednesday.
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.
I will update this advisory by 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Mar.10, 2004.
Thanks for
calling.