US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest
Snow, Weather and Avalanche Advisory
Introduction:
Happy New Year! This is
Max Forgensi with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your avalanche
and mountain weather advisory for the Wasatch Plateau/Manti Skyline Region,
including, but not limited to Huntington and Fairview Canyons. This advisory is brought to you through a
partnership of Utah State Parks and the USFS. Today is Saturday, January 1st,
2005 at 9:30 am.
This advisory will expire in 24 hours, and will be
updated on Sunday.
To see some of the Manti Skyline’s past advisories check out the ARCHIVE. To see current conditions go to our WEATHER PAGE. To see photos go to the AVIPHOTOS page.
We are booking basic avalanche awareness classes all over the Skyline
region and have our first AIARE Level I Avalanche Course. The Level I American Institute for
Avalanche, Research and Education class is a three day course with an emphasis
on field days. Call (435) 636-3363 to
sign up for this FREE course being held in Mt. Pleasant. The January 14th thru the 16th class is full, we are taking students
for a February 4th thru 6th class currently. Limit of 18 students.
Current Conditions:
We received over
six inches in the last 24 hours, with the chance of more snow in the forecast
for the next five days. The Mammoth/Cottonwood
SNOTEL site is reporting 33” of snow on the ground and a temperature of 18
degrees this morning. Today there will
be better visibility than yesterday up on top.
Plenty of wind out of the SE-SW has moved snow around on the Skyline and
will affect the avalanche danger today.
You will be able to find plenty of powder around Gooseberry and Miller
Flat Reservoir Trailhead. Today will be
a good day to go trail riding and play in the meadows, reserving the steeper
terrain when the avalanche danger decreases.
Your first hazard for today is going to be the road conditions,
which are snow packed and at times quite congested. Please drive defensively!
Mountain Weather:
Today: Mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers. High in the upper 20’s, low near 15. Chance of snow is 30%. Winds will be out of the SW at 10-20 mph,
with higher averages on exposed ridges in upper elevations.
Sunday: Snow likely in
the afternoon with accumulations of up to 2” expected. High near 30.
Avalanche Conditions:
Winds yesterday
were strong enough to transport the six inches of snow (12” storm total) onto
leeward sides of ridges and slopes, so we are in the midst of a large avalanche
cycle. Most avalanches will fail
between the old snow/new snow interface, with some slopes failing on a buried
surface hoar layer. Natural avalanches
occur during or just after a significant storm and today falls into the “just
after” category. For today, I am going
to rate the avalanche danger at CONSIDERABLE, with pockets of HIGH
on
slopes greater than 35 degrees and on NE-NW aspects. Cornices are going to tender today and break further back than
expected. It is time to let Mother
Nature play with avalanche terrain.
Today and tomorrow will be good times to stay on designated trails and
in powder fields well away from the steep slopes. If you do venture out to steeper terrain, you better be very
knowledgeable of avalanches and be wearing avalanche beacons, probes and
shovels.