Wasatch Cache and Uinta National Forests

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

Avalanche ADVISORY

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, December 13, 2003 and it’s 7:30 a.m.

Current conditions:

Skies are partly cloudy, ridge-top temperatures are in the mid teens, and winds are out of the west at speeds of 10-20 mph along the ridges. While no new snow has fallen in the past 24 hrs, we did pick up 6” of light density snow from Thursday nights storm. Other than south aspects, which developed a sun crust yesterday, the riding and turning conditions are quite good.

Avalanche Conditions:

Yesterday was another “best day of the year” as folks who got out were treated to sunshine, light powder, and over the hood riding, and in your face turning conditions. Most of the old wind-slabs are glued in place and with hardly any added new weight to the snowpack the only avalanches my partners and I could find were shallow new snow sluffs on steep slopes.

While our snowpack has remained relatively strong and well behaved, there are distinct weaknesses that have developed overtime due to the fact that the pack is still pretty shallow. In most areas these weaknesses are near the surface, however in steep rocky terrain, especially at upper elevations the pack has become quite weak near the ground. This type of terrain will become problematic once it starts snowing or blowing again.

With wind speeds already on the rise this morning, I’d suspect shallow, though sensitive wind-drifts are already forming along the lee side of ridges at upper elevations. There are some slick bed-surfaces for these slabs to run on and they might pack enough punch to knock you off your machine or skis.

Bottom Line:

At low and mid elevations and in wind-sheltered terrain, the avalanche danger is generally LOW today. Both natural and human triggered avalanches are unlikely.

At upper elevations, above timberline the avalanche danger is MODERATE today on any steep slope with recent deposits of wind-drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches will be possible.

Mountain Weather:

A warm front will influence our weather today so we can expect cloudy skies, moderate temperatures, and light snow today and tonight. Total accumulations look to be in the 2”-5” range. High temperatures at 10,000’ will be in the low 20’s and at 8,000’ near 30 degrees. Overnight lows will be near 20 degrees. Winds will be out of the west at speeds of 15-25 mph along the ridges. Sunday we should see continued light snow with increasing wind and it should be cranking by the evening hours as a strong, fast moving cold front approaches the region. Snow should start Sunday night, lingering into Monday morning and accumulations look to be in the 6”-12” range.

General Information:

We can always use snow and avalanche information and your observations are an important component to this program. So if you see or trigger an avalanche give us a call at 801-231-2170 or 1-800-662-4140.

Also, if you’d like to schedule a free avalanche awareness talk and/or field day give us a call at 801-524-5304.

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 will be updated by 7:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Thanks for calling.