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 april 8, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am sunday april 9, 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 April 8, 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:

Skies remained mostly clear overnight, but even that didn’t help temperatures to plummet much. Currently at 8,000’ it’s near 33 degrees and along the high ridges at 11,000’ it’s 25 degrees. Southerly winds picked up yesterday right around lunch time and have been averaging 15 mph with gusts in the mid 30’s. No new snow has fallen in the past 24 hours and the snow conditions are damp and gloppy down low. Up high however, you’ll still find cold settled powder on sheltered north facing slopes.

Avalanche Conditions:

I’ve allowed the avalanche warning for the Uinta’s to expire and we’re slowly coming out of the woods as the snowpack adjusts to all the added weight of Thursday’s storm. It’s not a done deal yet and you’ll still need to have your avalanche radar fully tuned in and be willing to make changes in your travel plans based on your snow stability evaluations. Here’s why …southerly winds have been blowing for the past 15 hours or so and there’s plenty of light snow available at the upper elevations to form sensitive new wind drifts. These new drifts will cover up those formed during Thursday’s storm, making them hard to detect. In steep upper elevation, wind loaded terrain it will be possible to trigger an avalanche in one of the new drifts that has the possibility of breaking into the storm snow, creating a deep, wide and dangerous avalanche.

In addition to dry snow avalanches, the combination of strong sunshine and warming temperatures will increase the danger of wet avalanches and these also have the possibility of being deep and dangerous too. During the heat of the day, you’ll want to get off of and out from under steep sun exposed slopes.

In addition, cornices have grown large and sensitive, forming in unusually low elevation terrain and breaking further back than you’d think. Unfortunately, this led to a recent avalanche fatality in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Monday afternoon. I’d give these unpredictable monsters plenty of respect and steer of them. (Click here for an accident report and photos)

Finally, remember- it’s been a relatively safe season for us and there’s no reason to blow it this late in the game. There are plenty of places to ride today and not trigger an avalanche, and a conservative approach is going to be the hot ticket item. Above all, think about the consequences of your decisions.

Bottom Line:

In upper elevation terrain near and above tree-line, the avalanche danger is SCARY MODERATE today on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those with both old and new deposits of wind drifted snow. A SCARY MODERATE avalanche danger means there are isolated places where large and dangerous human triggered avalanches are possible.

The danger of wet avalanches will rise to MODERATE as temperatures increase. Human triggered wet slides will be possible during the heat of the day.

Mountain Weather:

A weak storm brushing by to the north of our region will bring some cloudiness to the area late this afternoon and tonight. For most of the day though, we should see sunny skies, warm temperatures and increasing southerly winds. Highs today at 8,000’ will be in the mid 40’s and at 10,000’ near freezing. Overnight lows under partly cloudy skies should be in the upper 20’s. Winds will be a nuisance today, blowing 15-30 mph with higher gusts along the most exposed ridges. Sunday looks about the same with a better chance of snow rolling in during the day Monday through early Tuesday. It’s not looking like a big storm, probably 5”-10” by late Tuesday night.

Announcements:

 
If any terms confuse you, take a look at our new avalanche encyclopedia.
 
“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 April 9, 2006.

Thanks for calling!