Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center

US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest

Introduction:

Good Morning! This is Max Forgensi with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Monday, January 12th, 2004 at 7:30am.

Friday, January 16^th at 7pm is the annual Free Avalanche Awareness Course at the Moab Information Center.

Click here for recent photos. Click here for Snowpits. You can always email us observations as well by clicking here, or sending a message to [email protected] or [email protected] .

General Conditions:

High pressure is dominating our area today, and the valley cold pools seem to be slightly more entrenched each day. Next week we might see this fog layer push out.

Currently it is 11 degrees here in town and up at the Geyser Pass Trailhead we have a temperature of 21.6 degrees and 42” of snow on the ground. Today is another great day to get out of the fog and into the mountains, where yesterday the temperature on Pre-Laurel Peak reached 43.0 degrees. And on a very happy note, the weather station is finally fully operational up there. Persistent effort by volunteers and the forecasters made this possible.

Mountain Weather:

Today: Partly cloudy. Highs in the 30’s.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows near 20.

Tuesday: Partly cloudy. Highs in the mid 30’s.

The winds should generally be light until the high pressure system gets pushed out…sometime.

Avalanche Conditions:

Not much is changing around here. We are in a high pressure system, which means the snow is settling, i.e. strengthening, and the lack of activity is a good sign as well. Our major avalanche concerns are whether or not the slopes you are on have any weak layers lower down. Shallower and rocky areas may be more prone to there presence, and sunny aspects may have a weak crust sandwich down low. Check out each slope as you go, but remember that now is not the time when natural avalanches occur, it is the time when you trigger them. Look at signs Mother Nature is giving you. If there has been a slope that avalanched naturally that has the same aspect and elevation as a slope that you are looking at skiing, it should be viewed as a suspect slope. That being said, the avalanche danger is MODERATE on slopes steeper than 35 degrees at or above treeline on NW-N-E aspects. Otherwise the avalanche danger is LOW in the lower elevations and shallower slopes. .

Nordic and Skate Skiing:

The Tag-a-Long snow cat has groomed up to the Beaver Lake Hut and traffic on the Geyser Pass Road means some good Nordic skiing-definitely a great option with the weather like this in town. Warm snow temps during the day.

Public Announcements: This advisory will be updated Thursday morning. Until then, stay safe and have fun.