Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center

US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest

Introduction:

Good morning! This is Evan Stevens with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today Saturday, November 29, 2003 at 7:30 A.M.

General Conditions:

The cold air has come down to town for the morning, with a current temp in Moab of 14 and 29 degrees at the Geyser Pass Trailhead. Snow surfaces will be a mix of recrystalized snow on the northerly aspects and a variety of crusts on the southerly aspects. Currently, there is 16” of snow at the trailhead and 23” at the bottom of the northwoods, so don’t put away your rock skis yet! The road is a bit slick from traffic packing it out, so chains or 4WD might come in handy.

Mountain Weather:

It seems as though the cold temperatures are going to start to moderate a bit, as a zonal flow will bring us nothing but sunshine next week. Highs will reach the mid 30’s at around 10,000’ under partly cloudy skies and calm winds. Tonight is our last chance to have a successful snow dance for a while, but you will have to try hard. It’s only a 30% chance of snow showers, and with the way the weather pattern is, the La Sal’s will really have to put the ringer on to squeeze some snow out. The chance of moisture dissipates tomorrow after a low temperature near 20. Then skies clear, and highs will reach the mid 30’s for Sunday.

Avalanche Conditions:

The weather pattern is pretty much setting the precedent for our current snowpack: calm and dry. With lots of cold clear weather, our foe the facet has returned, and probably for the season. With less than 3 feet of snow pack in most places, the snowpack is not quite deep enough to maintain any strength through this weather pattern, and is setting itself up for some good action when it starts to snow again. For now, most of the recent avalanche hazard has settled out, with just the chance of triggering an isolated pocket at or above treeline on Northerly aspects. As a result the avalanche danger is LOW on all aspects at all elevations, with only a few pockets of instability lingering around on Northerly aspects at and above treeline. Remember, low danger still means that you can get yourself into trouble in one of these wind loaded starting zones, so always play it safe!

Nordic and Skate Skiing:

It seems like classic is still the way to go right now. With a bit of snowmachine traffic, the skating should improve fast.

Public Announcements:

There will be an Avalanche Awareness talk for the Moab Winter Rescue team on Tuesday, December 9^th at 7pm, with a volunteer/observer meeting to follow. Call us at the office for more info, 636-3363.

Safety Tip of the Day:

Always have an escape route planned when riding or crossing avalanche terrain. Locate your safe spots and go from island of safety to island of safety.