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 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
To
check out past advisories, go to ARCHIVE. To check out the current, go to our WEATHER page.
Current
Conditions:
We have been blessed with 2’ of
snow since December has started, leaving anywhere from 2’ to 3’ of snow up on
the Manti-Skyline. The upper elevation
bowls is where you will find most of the white stuff, although that is where
you will also see some avalanche activity as well. Low elevation play areas are still filled
with ground hazards such as rocks, fences, stumps and shrubs; open meadows will
be the best place to get the rust off your snowmobiles for the 2005-2006 season. The temperatures are going to be much warmer
than this past week.
Click the links below to find out
up to date information at these weather stations on the Skyline.
Mammoth/Cottonwood SNOTEL
(8,800’): 23.0” of snow on the ground.
Seeley Creek SNOTEL (10,000’):
There is 16” of snow on the ground.
Mountain
Weather:
Saturday...Mostly sunny. Highs at 8000 feet
in the mid 30s.
Saturday Night...Partly
cloudy. Lows at 8000 feet 5 to 10 above.
Sunday...Partly
cloudy. Highs at 8000 feet in the mid 30s.
Avalanche
Conditions: (Click here for the International
Avalanche Danger Scale)
There
was a fair amount of avalanche activity from the storm cycle of last weekend
and from Tuesday’s snow. Cornices failed
wall-to-wall on Northwest-East aspects in the higher elevations and there were
plenty of small, soft-slab avalanches from Tuesdays
storm too. It appears that the heavy
snow from last weekend has bonded pretty well with the snow close to the
ground, although if it did fail, the consequences would be big. There was one avalanche that failed on a Northwest
aspect on the
The Bottom Line for Saturday is going to be
a MODERATE avalanche danger on steep slopes
greater than 35 degrees on NW-N-E aspects above 9,500’. Be weary of cornices that have yet to
fail. If you are going out to do some
high-marking, make sure your snowmobile is well away from the run-out zones of
avalanche paths and facing away from the danger. I always like to rest against the handle bars
myself. Everywhere else, I am going to
rate the danger at LOW.
*The advisory is also
available via recorded message at (800) 648-7433