Wasatch Cache and Uinta National Forests

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

Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the Utah Snowmobile Association, the National Weather Service, BRORA, and Backcountry Access.

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Avalanche advisory

saturdAY march 18, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am sunday march 19, 2006.

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 Saturday March 18, 2006 and it’s 7:00 a.m. Avalanche advisories for the western Uintas are available on Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and all holidays.

This advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to Mirror Lake, to the North Slope of the western Uinta Mountains. That’s a lot of turf and I can’t be in all of these places at once. Your snow and avalanche observations are critical to this program and help to save other riders lives by getting accurate information out to the public. I’m interested in what you’re seeing especially if you see or trigger an avalanche. Please call 1-800-662-4140, or 801-231-2170, or email to [email protected] and fill us in with all the details.

Current Conditions:

A quick burst of snow moved through the region last night depositing 2”-4” of medium density snow. Currently at 8,000’ it’s in the mid 20’s and at 11,000’ near 16 degrees. The gusty south winds we experienced yesterday afternoon have calmed down and are now blowing out of the west at speeds of 10-20 mph along the ridges. The combination of strong sunshine and mild temperatures crusted many lower elevation slopes and virtually every sun-exposed slope now has a crust of variable thickness. Don’t be discouraged down at the low elevation trailheads, good powder riding and turning conditions will still be found on mid elevation, wind sheltered shady slopes.

Avalanche Conditions:

As an avalanche forecaster and backcountry enthusiast, I couldn’t ask for a better storm pattern then what we’re experiencing this winter. It’s amazing how filled in things are and the western Uinta’s are about as white as they get. The steady stream of storms pushing into the region all season, has given us a deep and mostly stable snowpack. Nearly all of our avalanche activity has occurred in recent storm or wind events and that’ll be the trend again today. Yesterday’s southerly winds blew at the upper elevations forming wind drifts that were in the manageable category, about 8”-12” in depth. By days end these were cracking out around your skis or machine and on steep wind loaded slopes it was possible to trigger small, pockety avalanches. I think most of these instabilities probably healed overnight, though there may be some pockets out there that could still be sensitive to the weight of a skier or rider, especially in wind loaded terrain above tree line. The deepest drifts will be found on the leeward side of ridges on northwest through east facing slopes. As always try to get as much information about the slope you want to ride on by tweaking small test slopes that are similar in aspect, elevation and slope angle. Also think about the consequences of triggering a slide. Getting slammed into a group of trees or carried over a cliff could really ruin your day.

For the future- another, stronger storm is slated to affect the region tonight through Sunday and by morning I’d expect the avalanche danger to rise accordingly.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger in upper elevation terrain near and above tree-line, is MODERATE today on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are possible.

In wind sheltered terrain the snowpack is mostly stable and the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

Mountain Weather:

Today we should see scattered morning snow showers which will increase in intensity towards the late afternoon. 3”-5” of new snow should fall during the day with an additional 6”-12” overnight and possibly another 3”-8” on Sunday. Temperatures will be mild today with highs at 8,000’ in the low 30’s and at 10,000’ in the low to mid 20’s. Once the cold front arrives overnight lows should dip into the mid teens. There could be some southwest winds before the cold front gets here and they’ll blow 10-20 mph along the upper elevation ridges and should die down and turn northeasterly once the storm arrives. Sunday should be much colder with highs in the mid 20’s. A slight drying trend is forecast for Monday with another system on tap for Tuesday/Wednesday.

Announcements:

“Beacon Basin” is good to go and ready to use at the Noblett’s Trailhead. While you’re waiting for your partners 
to gear up, swing by and test your avalanche beacon skills. It’s free and easily accessible from the parking lot. A big thanks 
goes out to members of the Utah Snowmobile Association for assisting in the installation and to Backcountry Access for 
providing all the gear. 
 
A special thanks to Tri-City Performance, Polaris and The Utah Snowmobile Association for stepping up to the plate 
and partnering to provide a new sled for the Utah Avalanche Center’s western Uinta avalanche forecasting program. 
 
The Moffit Peak weather station is up and running. This site was made possible through generous donations
by BRORA, The Utah Snowmobile Association, and the National Weather Service. You can view data by clicking here.

For avalanche photos click here.

General Information:

If you haven’t taken one of our free snowmobile specific avalanche awareness classes, schedule one now before things get too crazy. Give me a call at 801-231-2170 and I’d be happy to tailor a talk for your group.

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 expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am on Sunday March 19, 2006.

Thanks for calling!