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 Thursday, January 22nd, 2004 at 7:30am.

February 7^th through 9^th is our Level 1 avalanche course. Call 259-7155 to register.

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:

A strong ridge axis over the Pacific Northwest is resulting in a weak Northerly flow over our area. This high pressure system is leaving us with dry conditions (20% RH on Pre-Laurel) and with a stable air mass. Thankfully the inversion has left us . Currently it is 16 degrees in town and 13 degrees at the Geyser Pass trailhead. The SNOTEL stake has 31.9” of snow on it. Up at Pre-Laurel Peak it is 13 degrees as well with light winds out of the North. The road is in great shape and the skate skiing and Nordic tracks are superb.

Mountain Weather:

Today: Mostly Sunny. High in the 30’s.

Tonight: Mostly Clear. Low 5 to 15.

Friday: Partly Cloudy. High 35-45.

The next chance of snow could come in Saturday night and into Sunday. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

Avalanche Conditions:

Until we get any new snow the avalanche danger will remain at mostly LOW, with the isolated pocket of MODERATE danger on slopes steeper than 35 degrees at or above tree line on wind loaded aspects. Remember the snow on the ground is constantly changing, each layer is trying to equalize with the next. Continue to dig snow pits and see what the trend is. Is the snow pack gaining strength or becoming weaker? I am going to vote for the latter. Expect a mixed bag of supportable and non-supportable crust sandwiches on South aspects and some consolidated powder on the surface of Northerly aspects. But what is down below? Perhaps the formation of some depth hoar on those Northerly aspects? Observers have reported some shallow wind slab on exposed areas at and above treeline. These might not move to far today, their implications will be greater when they get buried.

Nordic and Skate Skiing:

The Tag-a-Long snow cat has groomed up to the Beaver Lake Hut and the Tomasaki Hut so there is some great Nordic and skate skiing out there right now.