US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest

Good morning, this 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 Ephraim, Huntington and Fairview Canyons. This advisory is brought to you through a partnership of Utah State Parks and the USFS. Today is Sunday, February 18^th, 2007 at 8:00 a.m.

If you have been out in the backcountry, please post your OBSERVATIONS with us!

To check out past advisories, go to ARCHIVE.

To check out the current weather, go to our WEATHER page.

For more information on snowmobiling on the Skyline, click this LINK

General Conditions:

We are issuing a SPECIAL AVALANCHE STATEMENT for the Wasatch Plateau/Manti-Skyline Region for today through the rest of the President’s Day weekend.

Please Read!!!!!! Be especially careful when traveling in avalanche terrain this weekend. The first big storm of the season is going to bring increased usage to the back country. Storm totals of over 12”, rapid cornice development and active wind-loading on leeward slopes and ridges make this a HEADS UP SITUATION. Ensure that you do not fall into human traps such as “powder fever” and “scarcity”. This will be tough to do, as this weekend will have the best conditions of the season to date. Realize this: A few seconds of bliss is not worth losing your life. Traveling in avalanche terrain is not recommended for users who don’t have formal avalanche training. Do not approach cornices, stay away from the run-out zones of avalanche paths and travel one at a time in avalanche terrain. Sunny skies and new snow make it difficult to realize that there are hazards out there that could ruin your day.

Mountain Weather:

Today: Becoming partly cloudy. Highs at 8000 feet in the mid 40s.
Tonight: A chance of snow in the evening...then snow after midnight. Accumulation 1 to 3 inches. Lows at 8000 feet near 20. Chance of snow 80 percent.
Presidents day: Breezy. Snow likely. Colder. Accumulation 2 to 5 inches. Highs at 8000 feet in the lower 30s. West winds 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 70 percent.
Monday night: Mostly cloudy. Lows at 8000 feet 10 to 15.

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
Mammoth/Cottonwood SNOTEL (8,800’):	30.8”	0”	19	Powder!
Seeley Creek SNOTEL (10,000’):	20.8”	0”	15.8	Winds out of the W at 4 gust to 6
Skyline Wind Site (SH 31):	Wx down	Wx down	Wx down	Wx down
Miller Flat Trailhead:	38””	0”	~	Powder!

Avalanche Conditions: (Click here for the International Avalanche Danger Scale)

Yesterday’s warm temperatures and light winds gave a break to increasing wind loading and allowed the snow pack to stabilize a bit. We are putting time between the big weather events from last week which means cornices are gaining strength and Mother Nature will not be releasing as many natural avalanches (if any). This is a tricky time out in the back country as the ingredients to create an avalanche are all there, except one…a catalyst to tip the scales from the snow staying on the slope to one that avalanches. With no new natural loading until this evening, the only new load applied to make a slope fail is YOU…in the form of a snowmobiler, skier or snow-kiter.

I suspect we have had a pretty widespread natural avalanche cycle. If you are looking to go into the high alpine bowls, slopes that have already avalanched are much safer than ones that have not. Start on small slopes to see their reactivity before committing to larger ones. Always travel one at a time in avalanche terrain, have escape routes (or a plan) on what you would do if an avalanche did break while you were out on the slope and wait for your turn to high-mark in a safe zone where an avalanche could not run to.

The BOTTOM LINE for today will be an AVALANCHE DANGER of CONSIDERABLE on all aspects where recent slabs and sensitive cornices have been deposited. This will especially be true in the steep alpine bowls south of State highway 31.