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Forecast for the Abajos Area Mountains

Eric Trenbeath
Issued by Eric Trenbeath on
Monday morning, December 1, 2025

Recent snowfall has slightly increased the risk for small, human triggered avalanches. The most likely areas to find trouble will be on steep, northerly facing slopes near and above tree line where fresh deposits of new and wind drifted snow accumulate on top of pre-existing, weak surface snow. Overall coverage is quite thin and the avalanche danger will be largely isolated to areas with the deepest and most continuous snow cover. Suspect steep slopes that have more than about 8 inches of new snow and pay attention to loading patterns and areas that have been wind drifted. Cracking is a sign of instability. Even a small avalanche can have consequences in low snow conditions.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Special Announcements

SAVE THE DATES!

Wednesday, December 3 - Don't miss our free Know Before You Go avalanche awareness talk at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center, 111 E 100 N at 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, December 6 - 18th Annual Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop (USAW). This session will be held in-person at the Wasatch Jr High School Auditorium. 3750 S 3100 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84109. Information and tickets are available here.

Weather and Snow
Camp Jackson and Buckboard Flat SNOTEL sites are both reporting 4 inches of new snow this morning and we likely have twice that much up high. Although conditions remain thin, we are off to a much better start than last year as the mountains definitely look white with snow all the way down to the base. At the mouth of North Creek there is about 8 inches on the ground and double that up high. We have had some snow sitting around on the ground for awhile, and it has undoubtedly become weak, sugary, and faceted. As new snow is added to this picture we will undoubtedly begin to develop a persistent weak layer problem. But for now, small avalanches confined to the new snow are your primary concern.
NWS forecast for the Abajo Mountains.
Snow totals and temps at Buckboard Flat (8924')
Snow totals and temps at Camp Jackson (8858')
Additional Information

It's never too early to start thinking about avalanches. Here are a few things to consider doing:

  • Learn online. We have over 5 hours of free online learning at the Know Before You Go website
  • Check out the upcoming in-person Know Before You Go events HERE
  • Sign up for an on-snow class
  • Check out the UAC's education progression HERE
  • Get your avalanche rescue gear ready for winter. Put fresh batteries in your transceiver and update the firmware. Inspect your shovel and probe. Get your airbag backpack ready by possibly doing a test deployment and updating the firmware if it is an electric version or getting your canister refilled if it's not electronic.
General Announcements
This forecast is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.
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