Advisory: Moab Area Mountains | Issued by Max Forgensi for December 16, 2012 - 7:21am |
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bottom line The Bottom Line for today will be an Avalanche Danger of Considerable on NE-N-NW slopes greater than 32 degrees at any elevation. These aspects held a weak, shallow snow pack before the storm and just received a considerable amount of wind loading. Watch out for remote triggering of these slopes from below or from ridgelines.
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special announcement UPDATE! 2012 LUNA Groomed into Gold Basin this morning but it will be difficult getting up to the trailhead. San Juan County will be plowing this afternoon. PLEASE be patient with the plow drivers and DO NOT PASS. They can not see behind their plows very will. The road should be completed by Tuesday mid morning. Thanks San Juan County Road Department! |
current conditions The much anticipated change in the weather pattern continued to produce light snowfall totals in the La Sal and Abajo Mountains in the past 24 hours. This storm is just wrapping up, but it appears there is another one on its heels, arriving Monday evening. In the La Sal Mountains, our Gold Basin (10,000') study plot recorded 2" of snow in the past 24 hours, brining the total height of snow (HS) to 30" (75 cm). The road to the Geyser Pass Winter TH is not plowed. 4WD and chains will be necessary. Current temperatures at the trailhead are 17 degrees, while up at Pre-Laurel Peak, the winds are light out of the south-sw with a temperature of 6 degrees. Skiing and riding conditions in the La Sals have improved to a point that you can navigate into a thin backcounty. A new problem is that we have had some considerable lumber come down in the recent pre-storm wind event, making travel on travel routes to the high country difficult. In the Abajo Mountains, the Camp Jackson station reports 3"-4"" of snow with 0.4" of H20 registering in the past 24 hours with a current temperature of 18 degrees. The winds have either been peculiarly calm on Abajo Peak or the anemometer has been rimed up and unable to spin. If you are interested in finding out the current weather, go to our La Sal and Abajo Mountain Weather Page to assist you with nowcasting. This forecast will be updated next mid-week. I would expect San Juan County to plow the road to the Geyser Pass TH by Monday afternoon. |
recent activity Yesterday's tour gleaned much needed information for the backcountry traveller. Widespread cracking and collapsing occurred from breaking ski and snowmobile trails. We were able to trigger two small avalanches from the road, harmless to humans (D1) but a in your face sign of the instability. Upon travelling up the Pre-Laurel ridge for the first time of the season, the north aspects of Horse Creek had a natural avalanche cycle during the storm event, failing on the new snow/old snow interface. Our fracture line profile determined that the failure occurred 60 cm down in the total 85 cm snow depth. The lower layers were a mix of mature depth hoar facets and crusts, very dangerous, especially where the natural avalanches did NOT occur. |
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Soft wind slabs will be our biggest concern for Sunday on NW-N-NE slopes and throughout the entire elevation spectrum. We just placed an elephant on top of a layer of champagne glasses. Although the elephant already broke these during the storm event in some locations, there will be areas that somehow, that elephant is just sitting there waiting for a small trigger. Cross loading will be a major concern at and above treeline. Avalanche danger in wind loaded areas should preclude your yearning for some snow quality. |
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The La Sal Mountains did not have any snow on S-W aspects to speak of before the storm while the Abajos were bare. The hazard with new snow will be logs, rocks and stumps just under the first real storm of the season. Be careful out there |
weather Today: A 40 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 24. West southwest wind 5 to 15 mph. |
general annoucements The Friends of the La Sal Avalanche Center are have been an important partner to the forecast office in Moab for over 20 years. Go to their website to donate. They help with purchasing weather instrumentation, provide field observers and upkeep 3 weather stations in the La Sal and Abajo Mountains. Thanks! The Utah Avalanche Center will be holding a Basic Avalanche Awareness talk on Friday, January 18th at 6:30 pm at the Grand County Library. The following day, January 19th, there will be an avalanche rescue clinic at the Geyser Pass TH. On February 1st through the 3rd, the UAC-Moab is hosting a Level I AIARE Avalanche Course. Interested? Call Max Forgensi at his office phone (435-636-3355) for more details and to sign up. |