US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest

Snow, Weather and Avalanche Advisory

Introduction:

Good Morning, this is Evan Stevens with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory for the Wasatch Plateau/Manti Skyline Region, including, but not limited to Ephraim, Huntington and Fairview Canyons. This advisory is brought to you through a partnership of Utah State Parks and the USFS. Today is Easter Sunday, March 27th, 2005 at 7:30 am.

Current Conditions:

Yesterday the sun poked out just enough to spike the temperatures and put a crust down on any aspect that gets the sun. On the sheltered and shady north aspects you can still find some nice powder, but temperatures will be soaring today, so things could get soft everywhere. We have received close to 3 feet of snow in the last week.

Mammoth/Cottonwood SNOTEL: 56” of snow on the ground. Currently it is 11 degrees.

Seeley Creek SNOTEL: There is 56” of snow on the ground. It is currently 24 degrees at 6:00 am.

Mountain Weather:

Today...Partly cloudy. Highs at 8000 feet in the mid 40s.
Tonight...Windy. Partly cloudy. Lows at 8000 feet in the mid 20s. Southwest winds 20-30 mph.
Monday...Windy. Periods of snow. Accumulation 2-5 inches. Highs at 8000 feet in the upper 30s. West winds 25-35 mph.

Avalanche Conditions:

Yesterday’s weather was good for our snowpack-warm but not excessively hot, sunny and not too windy. It did its fair share to settle down our cranky and tender conditions. However, there is still a bit of lingering danger out there, as just one day isn’t quite enough to really calm things down, especially since temperatures will skyrocket today into the mid 40’s. So our avalanche danger boils down to 3 main concerns. First is the rapid warming we may see today-on southerly to southwesterly aspects this could be enough to cause large slabs to release, especially with the weight of a winter traveler. Second is the possibility of large cornice failures, under the weight of a winter traveler, which will become even more likely as the day heats up. Finally is the general existence of large loads on most steep windloaded slopes that may fail under the weight of a winter traveler. My general recommendation is to play it safe, and not push your luck too far, because if an avalanche does occur it may be deep (2 to 3 feet) and run far. The bottom line is an avalanche danger of MODERATE on all slopes steeper than 35 degrees, especially in the above mentioned situations. The danger may rise to CONSIDERABLE as the day heats up, so pay attention to the changing weather.