US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest

Introduction: Good morning, this is Dave Medara with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Monday, March 27th at 8am. This advisory will expire in 24 hours.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW GROOMING EQUIPMENT HERE. Check out photos of a large avalanche in Dorry Canyon here.

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.

Please give us your observations from the field HERE. The more observations we get, the better this forecast can be.

General Conditions:

Minimal amounts of snow yesterday, not enough to mess up the corn cycle. Looks like more snow in the forecast for this week so today will be the only opportunity for corn skiing if the weather forecasts verify. Snow is predicted through midweek albeit in small amounts. Great powder skiing will still be on tap in late March. Who would have thought? Keep the slopes to north facing and you’ll be in business. East and west facing slopes have varying thicknesses of breakable crusts and south faces will be hard in the cloudy conditions forecast for this week. Conditions for snow machine riding are great and supportable. The “trap door” has all but disappeared. Skate skiing conditions are perfect right now with the LaSallopet course still groomed and the geyser pass road is in good shape, but sloppy in the PM when it gets soft.

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’) –

Today: Partly cloudy, with a high near 39. North wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.
Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 27. Breezy, with a south wind between 15 and 20 mph.
Tuesday: A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 35. Breezy, with a south wind between 15 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
Tuesday Night: Snow showers likely. Some thunder is also possible. Cloudy, with a low near 28. Windy, with a south wind between 25 and 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

Weather Station/ Location	Snow Depth (HS): in./cm	New Snow (HN) in./cm	8:00 a.m. Temp (F)	Current Observations: Wind, 48 hour snow
Geyser Pass Trailhead (9,600’): (snotel link)	44”	trace	23	Trace new
Geyser Pass	83” est		N/a	Settled Powder
Gold Basin and South Mountain	58” /147 cm	trace	n/a
Pre-Laurel Peak Station (11,705’)	N/a	N/a	21 degrees @ 0700	Light Northwesterly

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

Not much has changed since yesterday. Good corn skiing on south facing slopes and good powder skiing on North facing slopes. Expect breakable crusts off these aspects. Avalanche conditions have become much safer since the dump two weeks ago, this new snow adding a very strong bridge across weaker sub strata in the snowpack. These sub layers are gaining considerable strength as well. There are still some buried weak layers in the snowpack though, and for this reason we are keeping the Avalanche Danger rating at MODERATE, even if it is in the lower range of this rating. There are just too many lemons in our fruit bowl here in the La Sals. The presence of buried faceted crystals and depth hoar add an unpredictable element that should not be discounted. People are getting out on some steeper terrain finally, but approach with caution. Also, keep in mind the effects of warming on the snowpack. This is the time of year when the daily solar cycles cause the snow to go from bulletproof to unconsolidated and hazardous in just a few hours every sunny day. If on a sunny slope and it’s getting sloppy, it’s time to move on or go home. We’ll update this message Wednesday morning. Thanks for checking in.