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 Friday, December 16th at 8:00 a.m. 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 Low Pressure system over the Great Lakes is trying to spread some of its moisture our way. We may just see high clouds and colder temperatures from these short waves of energy…if we are lucky we might see some flakes in the sky up in the mountains. It appears to be another good day to do some ice skating, although there is enough snow to get up and do some Skate/Nordic Skiing. Backcountry skiing is currently limited to only a couple of select spots up in the La Sals. Plenty of ground hazards exist to trip you up, so be careful! The Grand County Road Department did plow the road, although it is still icy and snow packed in spots. 4WD and chains are recommended.

Current Conditions: (click location for latest data)

Geyser Pass Trailhead (9,600’): 5. 0” at the SNOTEL. 12 degrees at the trailhead at 7:00 a.m.

Gold Basin and South Mountain: 20” of settled snow on the ground.

Pre-Laurel Peak Weather Station (11,705’): We are currently waiting on a piece of radio equipment to come in, once we get it, we should be ready to go!

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’)

Today: Partly cloudy, with a high around 19. West northwest wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Tonight: A 20 percent chance of snow. Partly cloudy, with a low around 9. West northwest wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Saturday: A 30 percent chance of snow. Partly cloudy, with a high near 19. West wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Avalanche Conditions: (Link to the International Avalanche Danger Scale here)

I cannot sound like a broken record anymore! The La Sal Mountains are a perfect place to go and get your dose of snow in and around the Moab area. Although the snow pack is shallow, it is as good as anytime to break your legs into a good high-altitude cardiovascular workout and hone in your transitions. If you are going up to enjoy winter in the desert, there is some areas that you want to look out for. North aspects at and just below tree-line is where you will find our weakest snowpack. You will find amazing amounts of sugar snow; i.e. depth hoar, facets…which in turn has no strength and can avalanche to the ground if an unsuspecting backcountry skier places his turn or ski cut the wrong (or right) place to initiate this failure. Any avalanches will use trees, rocks, logs and humans to connect the dots and make a crown line. The BOTTOM LINE in these areas is going to be MODERATE. The rest of the range is going to have a hazard rating of LOW.