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 is Christmas Day, December 25th, 2003 at 7:30 A.M

General Conditions:

You know it is quite a storm a brewing when every remote weather station in the range is down. Regardless, it is warm and windy out there today, and the holiday hasn’t brought us any powder just yet, so you may have to wait until tomorrow to enjoy those new snow related presents. I expect some interesting snow surfaces out there today, but don’t forget that the road has been groomed by Tag-a-Long Tour’s Snowcat, so maybe you should go skate skiing. There is still about 27” of snow at the trailhead and 36” of snow in Gold Basin.

Mountain Weather:

At least now the only warnings out there aren’t just for terrorism. A winter storm warning is in effect, and we could see upwards of 1 foot of new snow between tonight and tomorrow night. It is a strong pacific storm, bringing in some fierce winds in the 20’s today from the S-SW and shifting to the NW after tomorrow nights frontal passage but bumping up into the 30’s. Temperatures should stay near 30 until the front, and then don’t forget your mittens! Some cold air will be coming our way, and the weather should stay unstable for a few days.

Avalanche Conditions:

Today’s story is the strong S-SW winds, but until the new snow starts to fly, I don’t expect too many new slabs to form, as the sunny aspects are quite crusted over. For today, you still may be able to find a pocket of instability on steep NE-NW aspects at or above treeline, where the danger is MODERATE; especially if you find a pocket of recently loaded snow. Everywhere else the danger is LOW. The danger will stay this way until the snow starts to fly, and once we see a few inches of accumulation, it should bump up to CONSIDERABLE. Watch the weather, this may happen by tonight or tomorrow morning. Hopefully our SNOTEL site will be up and running by then!

Nordic and Skate Skiing:

The Tag-a-Long snow cat was up on the road to Geyser Pass yesterday and groomed it beautifully for all to enjoy, so get out there and skate before the new snow starts to fly!

Public Announcements:

We still need volunteers and observers! Call us at the office for more info, 259-7155 for more info, or 636-3363 after hours. Get ready for our avalanche awareness courses coming in January. Check the education page for a course near you.

Word of the Day:

Leeward sides: Not knowing this term could make you wonder where the snow would end up during a wind event. There are two areas, the windward and the leeward sides of mountains. The windward side faces where the wind is coming from, the leeward side is the opposite. The wind picks up snow on the windward slopes, also known as “fetch areas”, and deposits them on the leeward side. If the wind is coming from the South, expect Northerly aspects to have wind loading.