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 Sunday, February 6th, 2005 at 7:30 am.  This bulletin is sponsored in part by Canyon Voyages, Moab’s finest river running and retail store, proud sponsors of the Friends of the Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center.  This advisory will expire in 24 hours.

 

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:

A WINTER STORM WATCH is in effect until Tuesday morning with the potential for 10 to 20” of new snow and strong SW winds…so today will be a transitional day, with conditions changing as the clock ticks away.  For the early part of the day you can still expect to find some decent recrystalized powder on sheltered and shady aspects, but the strong winds will start to get everywhere.  Wind and sun crusts can still be found everywhere else.  The roads are plowed and 4WD is recommended of course.

 

Current Conditions: (click location for latest data)

Geyser Pass Trailhead (9,600’):  34” at the SNOTEL site with a temperature of 19 degrees at 6:00 am. 

Pre-Laurel Peak (11,700’):  The last 6 hours of winds are averaging 5-10mph from the NE with gusts up to the high teens.   

Gold Basin and South Mountain:  Around 65” to 75” of settled snow on the ground. 

 

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’)

Sunny, clear and dry until later on in the weekend…more details as the storm track solidifies, but it looks like a shot of 6-12” starting Sunday evening. 

Today: A 20 percent chance of snow showers after noon. Partly cloudy, with a high near 30. Breezy, with a southwest wind 5 to 10 mph increasing to between 20 and 25 mph. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph.
Tonight: Snow likely, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 16. Wind chill values between -1 and 9. Breezy, with a southwest wind between 20 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.
Monday: Periods of snow. High near 28. Wind chill values between -2 and 8. Windy, with a west southwest wind between 25 and 30 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.

 

Avalanche Conditions:

This is your last chance to map out the areas of weak snow in the range before it starts to get buried later on this evening.  Our picture as it stands now is some weak faceted snow on the surface of the sheltered and shady aspects-but with strong winds from the SW coming before and during the storm expect to see some new snow drifting in the period of time from noon today until the storm ends.  Precipitation won’t start until after midnight tonight, so the only avalanche concern today will be the possibility of some shallow new slabs on the leeward aspects-but once again there isn’t much snow available for transport yet.  So for today the avalanche danger remains at LOW with the possibility of increasing to MODERATE on steep leeward aspects as the winds pick up and some snow begins to fall.  It will be an interesting 24-48 hour period so get ready!

 

Nordic and Skate Skiing:

Excellent conditions on packed out trails…the word is that the Abajos have had some great conditions as well so get out and explore.