Wasatch Cache and Uinta National Forests

In partnership with: Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah State Parks,

Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the Utah Snowmobile Association, the National Weather Service, BRORA, and Backcountry Access.

.

Avalanche advisory

saturdAY february 18, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am sunday february 19, 2006.

Good morning! This is Craig Gordon with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory for the western Uinta Mountains. Today is Saturday February 18, 2006 and it’s 7:00 a.m. Avalanche advisories for the western Uintas are available on Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and all holidays.

This advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to Mirror Lake, to the North Slope of the western Uinta Mountains. That’s a lot of turf and I can’t be in all of these places at once. Your snow and avalanche observations are critical to this program and help to save other riders lives by getting accurate information out to the public. I’m interested in what you’re seeing especially if you see or trigger an avalanche. Please call 1-800-662-4140, or 801-231-2170, or email to [email protected] and fill us in with all the details.

Announcements:

“Beacon Basin” is good to go and ready to use at the Noblett’s Trailhead. While you’re waiting for your partners 
to gear up, swing by and test your avalanche beacon skills. It’s free and easily accessible from the parking lot. A big thanks 
goes out to members of the Utah Snowmobile Association for assisting in the installation and to Backcountry Access for 
providing all the gear. 
 
A special thanks to Tri-City Performance, Polaris and The Utah Snowmobile Association for stepping up to the plate 
and partnering to provide a new sled for the Utah Avalanche Center’s western Uinta avalanche forecasting program. 
 
The Moffit Peak weather station is up and running. This site was made possible through generous donations
by BRORA, The Utah Snowmobile Association, and the National Weather Service. You can view data by clicking here.

For avalanche photos click here.

Current Conditions:

Skies are partly cloudy and it’s another cold one out there this morning. Currently 8,000’ temperatures are starting to nose into the low teens. At the Moffit Peak weather site at 11,000’ it’s still a toe numbing 4 degrees. Winds are out of the southwest blowing 10-20 mph along the highest peaks. The midweek storm only produced about 4”-6” of new snow and the riding and sliding conditions are a mixed bag. On sunny facing slopes there’s dust on a rock hard, supportable crust and the more popular riding areas have just enough snow to hide the old, bone jarring tracks which are now set up like curb and gutter. If you’re looking for some soft settled powder, obscure mid elevation, wind sheltered terrain will be the ticket today.

Avalanche Conditions:

It’s been a relatively quiet week on the eastern front and other than a few isolated wind drifts I was able to stomp on at the upper elevations, the snowpack seems pretty well-behaved. There are a series of small storms headed our way over the next few days and the new snow combined with winds which are forecast to be strong at the upper elevations, will conspire to bump up the avalanche danger. There’s enough snow to blow around and as the winds increase today, fresh wind drifts at the upper elevations will become more widespread and sensitive. Look for and avoid steep slopes with fat, rounded looking pillows of snow. There’s a variety of hard smooth bed surfaces for avalanches to run on, and slides triggered today could be big enough to knock you off your feet or machine, so think about the consequences of triggering a slide. If you’re looking to remove the avalanche variable from the picture, I’d head to wind sheltered terrain where the snow is deeper and the avalanche danger generally low.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is MODERATE today in upper elevation terrain at and above tree-line, on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. A MODERATE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanche are possible.

In wind sheltered terrain the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

Mountain Weather:

A series of Pacific systems should keep our weather rather unsettled for the next few days. While no one impulse looks like a big snow producer, over time they’ll add up to put a much needed fresh coat of paint on our mountains. The first system will begin to affect the area today and clouds will be thickening throughout the day with snow showers developing by around lunch time. 2”-5” is forecast for today with an additional 3”-6” overnight. The storms are coming in on a southerly flow and temperatures will be unusually cold. Highs today at 8,000’ will be in the lower 20’s and at 10,000’ in the mid teens. Overnight lows will be near zero. Winds will become strong at the upper elevations, blowing 15-30 mph out of the southwest with higher gusts possible at the most exposed locations. Sunday will be cold and unsettled with an additional 2”-4” of snow expected. After that it looks like a cold, northwest flow into mid week with the possibility of snow each day.

General Information:

If you haven’t taken one of our free snowmobile specific avalanche awareness classes, schedule one now before things get too crazy. Give me a call at 801-231-2170 and I’d be happy to tailor a talk for your group.

The information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am on Sunday February 19, 2006.

Thanks for calling!