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 Saturday, December 9th, at 7:30AM. 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 ridge of high pressure that has been dominating our skies is finally pushing out to the east and in its wake, clouds are forming over the La Sal Mountains. Our area will be effected by a series of short waves for the next three days…the first will increase the cloud cover & allow the inversion in the Moab valley to mix better. The second, stronger wave will push into the area by late Sunday morning and bring with it the first chance of precipitation in a week and a half.

Backcountry skiing conditions are marginal. If you know the terrain well and can ski on the top inch of snow you can steer clear of ground hazards and the unconsolidated snow pack on North aspects. On South and West aspects bring your rock boards or your new skis if you want a free stone grind.

The best bet to break a sweat today in the La Sals is going up and using the GROOMED Nordic and Skate Ski trails. The grooming program has kicked off, giving users groomed trails down the Gold Basin road and up to Geyser Pass.

The road the Geyser Pass trailhead is plowed and passable by a medium clearance vehicle, but it is slippery.

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’) –
Today: Partly cloudy, with a high near 42. Southwest wind between 5 and 10 mph.
Tonight: A 20 percent chance of snow after 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 25. South southwest wind between 10 and 15 mph.
Sunday: Snow likely, mainly after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 35. Breezy, with a south southwest wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.
Sunday Night: Snow likely. Cloudy, with a low around 19. Breezy, with a west southwest wind between 10 and 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

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)	17”		25	faceting
Geyser Pass	21”		N/a	Re-crystallized pow
Gold Basin and South Mountain	19”		n/a	POWDER (& rocks!)
Pre-Laurel Peak Station (11,705’)	N/a	N/a	20.1	20+ mph gusts to 40 from South

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

With no new snow in the past week and not too much available to transport in the current fetch areas, the only change to our snow pack is the surface hoar development due to the cold clear nights. This surface hoar developed up to 11,000’. Although we have had sun and wind to destroy this persistent snow structure, I’ll bet that it will be hanging on to our Northerly aspects, waiting for this new snow to fall on it. The surface hoar event will not effect the stability today but could in the future. For today, the avalanche danger will be MODERATE, as we feel that there are still a few North and East facing slopes out there that could be reactive to the weight of a skier. Thanks for checking in, we’ll update this message Saturday morning.