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Forecast for the Moab Area Mountains

Max Forgensi
Issued by Max Forgensi for
Friday, December 7, 2012
Weather and Snow

The Utah Avalanche Center in Moab opened its doors the past Monday, December 3rd. Mountain weather tried to usher in a winter welcome...2" fell at the Geyser Pass Winter Trailhead early Monday morning.

The season is starting off like a lamb in southeast Utah. 10" of snow (25 cm) is at our Gold Basin study site. On Friday, December 7th, we went up to get the Gold Basin weather station up and running again. We hope the program will be downloaded by the beginning of next week.

As for skiing conditions, backcountry skiing conditions are non-existent right now. If you want to get a winter workout, the road to Geyser Pass holds enough snow to cross country ski.

I would advise anyone viewing this advisory NOT to attempt driving past the Winter TH.

Recent Avalanches

Replacing the solar panel in Gold Basin via snowmobiles!

At least Friday had some moderate temperatures to install the solar panel and weather telemetry at the Gold Basin site.

The snow might not be deep yet there's enough to snowmobile and cross country ski on.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
Additional Information
  • Saturday A 40 percent chance of snow, mainly after 2pm. Increasing clouds, with a high near 32. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph.
  • Saturday Night Snow likely with areas of blowing snow before 10pm, then snow with areas of blowing snow between 10pm and 5am, then snow likely after 5am. Low around 10. Blustery, with a west northwest wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.
  • Sunday Snow likely, mainly before 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 12. Blustery, with a north northwest wind around 25 mph becoming east northeast in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
  • Sunday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 7. Blustery.
  • Monday Mostly sunny, with a high near 23. Blustery.
General Announcements

LUNA will be holding its annual groomer training on Saturday, December 15th. Interested? Call Kirstin Peterson at 260-0042 for more details.

The Utah Avalanche Center will be holding a Basic Avalanche Awareness talk on Friday, January 18th at 6:30 pm at the Grand County Library. The following day, January 19th, there will be an avalanche rescue clinic at the Geyser Pass TH.

On February 1st through the 3rd, the UAC-Moab is hosting a Level I AIARE Avalanche Course. Interested? Call Max Forgensi at his office phone (435-636-3355) for more details and to sign up.

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