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.

Avalanche ADVISORY

wednesDAY NOVEMBER 29, 2006

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time it’s issued.

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 29, 2006 and it’s about 7:00 in the morning. Avalanche advisories for the western Uinta’s 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 801-231-2170, or email at [email protected] and fill me in with all the details.

Current Conditions:

In the wake of yesterday’s storm, skies are mostly cloudy this morning and man is it ever cold out there! The trailhead temperatures are hovering near zero and along the 10,000’ ridges it’s -5 degrees. A face numbing wind out of the west-northwest is blowing 10-15 mph with an occasional gust in the mid 20’s. Storm totals are in the 1’-2’ foot range. The southern half of the region received about 13”; upper portions of the Mirror Lake Highway come in around 17” and the Whitney Basin/Chalk Creek region are nearing 24”. New snow densities are quite light, averaging about 6%. Trail breaking is a bit of a chore because of new snow depths and a slight density inversion, but the reward is well worth the effort.

Avalanche Conditions:

Wow… what a difference a few days makes. With nearly two feet of new snow at the upper elevations I was surprised yesterday at how well behaved the snowpack reacted to the additional new load. While it appeared many steep slopes experienced a shallow avalanche cycle on a density inversion early in the storm, most of the new snow held together. So why didn’t things come completely unglued? Well, funny you should ask. It’s because two major components never came together. First off we didn’t get much water weight with the storm and secondly, the strong winds forecasted never really panned out. So with no cohesive slab the avalanche conditions stayed relatively manageable. A few things to note for today though, is the winds did pick up for about six hours last night, blowing out of the west-northwest, and this probably formed some fresh wind drifts along the leeward terrain particularly at the upper elevations. I think these new drifts will be sensitive to the weight of a rider today, but they should be pretty predictable. However, should the winds pick up for any length of time the avalanche danger may rapidly rise and conditions will get tricky. I’d approach steep upper elevation shady slopes with caution and try to get some information about the snowpack by tweaking small test slopes with little consequence, before center punching my favorite chute or bowl. Remember- going for a ride in even a small avalanche today will uncover all the obstacles barely hidden underneath the new snow making for a nasty, body beating ride down.

Bottom Line:

At and above tree line a MODERATE avalanche danger exists, especially on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. A MODERATE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are possible.

While not widespread, be aware there are pockets of CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger on steep, wind loaded upper elevation slopes that face the north half of the compass. A CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are probable.

On all other slopes the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

Mountain Weather:

Another day of frigid temperatures is on tap giving us light snow showers and very cold temperatures. Highs at 8,000’ will be near 5 degrees and at 10,000’ close to zero. Overnight lows dive into negative territory and should be near -10. Winds are forecast to blow out of the northwest at speeds of 10-20 mph with some gusts into the low 30’s along the upper elevation ridges. High pressure briefly begins to build on Thursday with temperatures warming into the low 20’s and partly cloudy skies. A weak system brushes by the region Thursday night into Friday giving us a snow shower or two. It looks like we’re back to high and dry conditions after Friday.

Announcements:

The Moffit Peak weather station is being moved to a more representative location and we hope to have it up and running next week.

Free avalanche awareness classes are available. Give me a call at 801-231-2170 or email [email protected] and get one scheduled before the season gets too crazy!

 
If any terms confuse you, take a look at our new avalanche encyclopedia.

For avalanche photos click here.

General Information:

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’ll update this advisory by 7:30 am on Saturday December 2, 2006.

This advisory is also available by calling 1-800-648-7433 or

1-888-999-4019.

.