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 December 16th,
2004 at 8:30 a.m.
To see past advisories check out the ARCHIVE. To see current conditions go to our WEATHER PAGE. To see photos go to the AVIPHOTOS page.
General Conditions:
Yesterday, I was impressed by how well the consolidated powder on
North aspects was skiing. Plenty of
snow to ski out there still, and it appears that corn conditions are not
setting up yet. S-W aspects are definitely
crusting up, although the crust is a mix of supportable and
non-supportable. In most areas it has
formed to a thickness of 1”. The high-pressure
system is still dominating our weather pattern here in Moab, although for the
past few days, the daytime high temperatures and nighttime low temperatures are
slowly becoming colder. Unfortunately,
it appears that snow isn’t in our forecast for quite some time. It is time to wash your cars, burn your skis
and pray for snow. The high temperature
yesterday at the trailhead reached 34 degrees
Current Conditions: (click location for latest data)
Geyser
Pass Trailhead (9,600’): 25 degrees out with 22”-28” on the ground
Pre-Laurel
Peak (11,700’): 6:00 am temperature
is 16 degrees, with winds out of the WSW at 24 mph, gusting to 33.
Gold Basin has about 36-40” of settled snow on the ground.
Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’)
Today. Partly cloudy. High near 33. Winds will be out of the NE at 10-15 mph.
Tonight. Clear. Low near 13. Winds will
be out of the NNE at 10mph.
Friday.
Sunny. High
near 33. Winds will be out of the NNW
at 10 mph.
We are
wondering if our Pre-Laurel Peak anemometer is working correctly due to the
fact the winds have been quite consistent as of late.
Avalanche Conditions:
Some surprising places for avalanches in the La Sals. Observations yesterday showed two new
avalanches in Red Snow Cirque and one on the SE aspect of Mellenthin. Two of the three avalanches recorded
yesterday were on SE aspects, starting at about 11,800’ and slab
avalanches. These avalanches were quite
sizable and they ran the full track in to the their respective deposition zone. They could have been affected by the warm up
we saw in the past couple of days. The
other avalanche in Red Snow Cirque was in what I call the Corner Pocket, a
slope that most people cross to gain access to the Cirque. We have experienced avalanche activity on
NE-NW and SE-SW aspects within the last week.
Keep your game face on if traveling
to higher elevations today and watch out for these steep (>35 deg) sun-affected
or wind loaded slopes. I am going to
rate the backcountry danger at MODERATE on these slopes. One
thing to note for the formation of future avalanches…surface hoar has developed
to 11,300’ and near-surface facets are forming currently on our sunny
aspects.
Nordic and Skate Skiing:
An enjoyable day for you
classic Nordic and Skate skiers as tracks are packed out and fast.