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Forecast for the Skyline Area Mountains

Craig Gordon
Issued by Craig Gordon for
Sunday, December 16, 2012

Terrain to avoid- steep, upper elevation wind loaded terrain. The avalanche danger will be rising to CONSIDERABLE and human triggered avalanches will become probable by late this afternoon.

In wind sheltered terrain and at lower elevations you'll find a LOW avalanche danger.

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Learn how to read the forecast here
Avalanche Watch

An Avalanche Watch is in effect for the mountains of Northern and Central Utah, including the Manti-Skyline. Strong winds and snow are creating dangerous avalanche conditions and both human triggered and natural avalanches are possible. New snow is overloading a pre-existing weak and very complex snowpack. The avalanche danger will continue to rise tonight and tomorrow to HIGH danger.

Special Announcements

Please join us at North San Pete High School at 7:00 pm Thursday Dec. 20th for an evening movie featuring Boondockers 9.

Weather and Snow

This morning, we're looking at mostly cloudy skies, light snow, temperatures in the mid teens, and westerly winds blowing 25-30 mph along the Skyline Summit. 6" of new snow has fallen in the past 24 hours, vastly helping to improve the riding and turning conditions, but overall the Skyline remains pretty thin.

This image pretty much sums up conditions at lower elevations... it's thin and brushy out there.

Recent Avalanches

One sled triggered slide was reported in steep terrain, near the highway along the Skyline. Around a foot in depth, this hard slab broke into weak snow near the ground as a result of the midweek winds of 12-12-12.

In addition, both Steve and Darce have experienced lots of collapses and loud, booming, whoomphing sounds.

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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

Sensitive wind drifts along the leeward side of upper elevation ridges are todays most obvious and easy to deal with avalanche concern. Smooth rounded pillows of snow are easy to detect and will break at or below your skis, board, or sled. Unfortunately, it's still very thin out there an even a small slide could result in a body beating, season ending slide. Best to continue avoiding steep, wind drifted slopes this weekend.

Winds have been busy at work along the summit, stripping snow on the windward side and forming sensitive drifts on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges.

Avalanche Problem #2
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

With a series of storms poised to slide into the region, avalanche conditions will become progressively tricky the next few days and slides breaking into weak snow near the ground will become more widespread. Our snowpack is a bit of a mess and this great field report by our ace observers Steve Cote and Darce Trotter clearly explains the setup. The most likely place to trigger an avalanche that breaks deeper than you might expect is going to be in steep rocky, upper elevation terrain, especially on slopes with a thin, shallow snowpack.

Additional Information

It's gonna be a wild couple of days in the mountains. West and southwest winds will average in the 20's and 30's, increasing throughout the day and will be screaming in the 60's and 70's overnight. Gusts to 100 mph aren't out of the question. 4"-6" of snow seems a good bet for today, and then snowfall starts in earnest tonight with an additional foot possible. A bit of a break Monday before it all ramps back up with a strong cold front swinging through the state Monday night and Tuesday with another foot of snow expected..

General Announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please participate in the creation of our own community avalanche advisory by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can call me directly at 801-231-2170, email [email protected], or email by clicking HERE

This is a great time of year to schedule a free avalanche awareness presentation for your group or club. You can contact me at 801-231-2170 or email [email protected]

Donate to your favorite non-profit –The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center. The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.

The information in this advisory is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

The advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:00 AM Monday December 17th.

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