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 Tuesday, December 5th, at 8:10AM. 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.

General Conditions:

The dominant high-pressure system will continue to persist through the work week until this weekend when a couple disturbances pass through the area. Valley inversions will stay in place…currently it is 14 in Moab while up at the Geyser Pass Trailhead is 23, Pre-Laurel 21.4. Expect the mercury to creep up with each passing day as the ridge breaks down for some change to come in. Cross your fingers. Skiing conditions are still hit and miss. Cross country skiing will be the best bet for today…your favorite South-West aspect slopes have enough snow cover to make them dangerous due to ground hazards. The snow is hanging on to North through East aspects at and just below treeline…it is not very supportable and avalanche dragons are lurking about.

The road the Geyser Pass trailhead is plowed and passable. Grooming begins this week on the Geyser Pass trails.

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’) –

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 31. West southwest wind between 5 and 10 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 19. West wind between 5 and 10 mph becoming calm.
Wednesday: Partly cloudy, with a high near 38. Calm wind becoming northwest between 5 and 10 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)	8.5”	0	23	Warming
Geyser Pass	~	0	~	Warming
Gold Basin and South Mountain	24”	0	~	POWDER (& rocks!)
Pre-Laurel Peak Station (11,705’)	~	~	21.4	11 Gust 20 from West

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

Not much new info to report. Check out some of the avalanches we saw on our tour last Wednesday here. There was widespread activity on North and NE facing slopes and the snowpack tests we did supported those observations. The La Sal snowpack is highly variable, layered, and showed a significant weakness at the old/new snow interface. It is worth noting that some of these slides stepped down to the ground and produced some pretty large avalanches. Being 7 days out from the bulk of the storm with these cold temperatures is a definite stabilizing and this high-pressure dome is keeping the winds light (no transport). While the hazard is on a decreasing trend, we still feel that there is a possibility of avalanches on steep North and NE facing slopes that have not run yet and are keeping the avalanche danger rating at MODERATE on these high elevation N and NE facing slopes. Sunny side slopes have poor cover so stay clear until we get more snow, which seems like it’s going to be a while…think snow!