Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Abajo Area Mountains Issued by Eric Trenbeath for Friday - February 10, 2017 - 6:44am
bottom line

Today there is a MODERATE danger for wet slide activity on slopes that received significant heating yesterday. Cloud cover today will help keep the threat at bay, but the lack of an overnight refreeze has complicated the issue. Avoid steep, "punchy" slopes that have sloppy wet snow, and look for signs of instability such as roller balls, pinwheels, or loose snow sluffing beneath you.




special announcement

The Abajo/Blue Mountain avalanche advisory will provide detailed information on the weekends. During the week, general information and a danger rating will be posted.

current conditions

The snow surface is getting tired and worn from the wind and sun and a variety of crusted surfaces abound. Overall snow depth now ranges from 2-4' across the range.

Dustin Randall was out earlier this week and sent in this observation.

Wind speed, temperature, and humidity on Abajo Peak.

New snow totals at Camp Jackson.
weather

A warm, moist storm system will move into the region this evening with our best chance for snow coming on Saturday. Though it looks like significant snow for the San Juan Mountains, models disagree on what we'll see here. I'll keep you posted.

Today

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. Windy, with a southwest wind 25 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph.

Tonight

A chance of rain and snow between 11pm and midnight, then a chance of snow after midnight. Cloudy, with a low around 32. Breezy, with a southwest wind 20 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Saturday

Snow. High near 36. Breezy, with a southwest wind 15 to 20 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.

Saturday Night

Snow likely, mainly before 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 26. North northwest wind 10 to 15 mph becoming northeast after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.

Sunday

A 50 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. East northeast wind around 15 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.
general announcements

If you are getting out into the mountains, we love to hear from you! You can SUBMIT OBSERVATIONS ONLINE

If you would like to have avalanche advisories emailed to you, SIGN UP HERE

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebayIf you sign up for AmazonSmile and designate the Utah Avalanche Center as your favorite charity, they will donate a portion of everything you spend to the UAC. I doesn't cost you a penny and we'd really appreciate the help.​

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.