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 Tuesday, Nov 28th at 8am. This advisory will expire in 24 hours.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW GROOMING EQUIPMENT 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.

Remember the Friends of the Manti-LaSal avalanche Forecast fund raiser on Friday night. 6:30 PM Doors open 7 PM show. Ski Movies and Raffle. Grand County High School. BE THERE!

General Conditions:

It started snowing yesterday afternoon about 2 pm and by the Time Max and I came down off the mountain yesterday, it was snowing for real. Hard to believe but this is about the 7^th or 8^th storm of the season already this year and you can see the layer by layer storm deposition on protected North facing slopes in the La Sals mountains right now. As of 6 am this morning we’ve had about 4-6 inches of snow at 10,000 feet and sustained 20 mph southerly winds overnight. There was not much coverage on sunny slopes before this storm and there was 6” to two feet of snow on the ground elsewhere yesterday afternoon. This snow will be the green light for both Nordic and Backcountry skiing and riding down here in the La Sals. Look for the grooming program to start up in the first week of December. Remember, it’s still bony out there.

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’) –
Rest Of Today...Snow. Areas of blowing snow in the afternoon. Snow accumulation 4 to 8 inches. Highs 25 to 35. South winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 40 mph.
Tonight...Snow. Snow accumulation 3 to 5 inches. Lows 10 to 20. West winds 10 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 30 mph in the evening.
Wednesday...Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Highs 10 to 20. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph.

Weather Station/ Location	Snow Depth (HS): in./cm	New Snow (HN) in./cm	7:00 a.m. Temp (F)	Current Observations: Wind, 48 hour snow
Geyser Pass Trailhead (9,600’): (snotel link)	16”	4-6” (.6” h2o)	22	Snowing, mod S winds
Geyser Pass	32”	8”	N/a	New snow
Gold Basin and South Mountain	26”	6”	n/a	POWDER
Pre-Laurel Peak Station (11,705’)	N/a	N/a	21	20-30 mph @ SSW

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

Max and I went up for a short snowmobile tour yesterday and found variable conditions ranging from rocky grass to 2 feet of snow at Geyser Pass. Many sunny south and west facing slopes were bare but many north and east facing slopes were holding 2 feet plus of snow and even before this storm there were some skiable slopes. The snow on the shady slopes is highly layered, each layer representing one of the eight storms we’ve had already that deposited snow in the La Sals so far this season. The density and grain size difference between layers is remarkable. These differences are a classic warning sign in our continental snowpack of the inherent instabilities we have to deal with in the La Sals. This new snow, where it piles up deep enough to slide, will not be falling on a solid base of old snow. South and South West winds have been consistently blowing overnight. For this reason we are calling the avalanche danger in the La Sals on North and East facing slopes above treeline CONSIDERABLE and MODERATE below treeline. Remember, on downwind slopes the deposition rate can be ten times greater than the precipitation rate in a wind free zone. Expect the hazard to go up even further as more snow and wind continue with this storm. On south facing slopes where there wasn’t much new snow, the biggest hazard will be poor ground cover. Make sure you use the rock skis and keep the slope angles down until this storm passes.