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 Friday, December 26, 2003 and it’s 7:30 a.m.

Current conditions:

The storm keeps chugging away and snow totals are starting to add up! The central part of the range appears to have received the most snow so far though this storm is quite elevation dependant with totals of 8” at 7,500’ and close to 18” at 10,000’. Temperatures have remained cool overnight and currently it’s in the low 20’s at 10,000’. Ridgetop winds picked back up around sunset last night and have been blowing steadily out of the south at speeds of 10-20 mph with gusts in the low 30’s.

Avalanche Conditions:

The combination of heavy snow and wind has prompted me to issue an AVALANCHE WARNING for the western Uinta Mountains. Our complex snowpack which is made up of a myriad of weak layers and unusual crusts will have a hard time adjusting to all the added weight of this storm in such a short period of time. A number of steep upper elevation slopes throughout the range have avalanched naturally overnight and those that haven’t are waiting for a trigger to come along and tip the scales. Once triggered, today’s avalanches have the possibility of breaking into buried weak layers near the ground, especially in terrain where the snowpack is shallow and weak. This would produce a large, scary, and possibly unsurvivable avalanche. In addition, avalanches will be running farther than you might expect and could overrun into low angle terrain and traditional ‘safe’ zones.

On steep non-wind affected slopes at mid and lower elevations the snow is sluffing easily and these sluffs are running fast and far, stacking up unusually deep piles of debris.

If your travels take you into steep terrain today you’ll need to utilize all your safe travel skills. Only one person should be on the slope at a time, have an escape route planned, and communicate this with your partners. Needless to say, we should all be carrying beacons, shovels, and probes and should know how to use them.

Even during times of high avalanche danger there are plenty of low angle slopes to play on. However, be aware of steep slopes above and adjacent to you.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is HIGH today at mid and upper elevations on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees. Both natural and human triggered avalanches are likely. People without well-developed avalanche skills should avoid avalanche terrain.

At low elevations and in wind-sheltered terrain less steep than 35 degrees the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE. This means that human triggered avalanches are probable and natural avalanches are possible.

Mountain Weather:

More snow is on the way and we can expect an additional 8”-12” of snow today as a cold upper trough moves over the region. Temperatures will be cooling throughout the day with highs at 10,000’ in the upper teens and at 8,000’ in the low 20’s. Overnight lows will be near 5 degrees. Winds will remain out of the southwest for most of the day with average wind speeds in the 15-25 mph range and gusts in the 30’s along the ridges. This afternoon the flow switches to the northwest ushering in colder air and some gusty winds. Lightning is possible with frontal passage. Late tonight the storm should start to wind down as the trough moves to the east, though we could pick up another 6” of snow. Saturday and Sunday we can expect light snow showers and it looks like another Pacific storm will start to affect the area starting Monday and continue through midweek.

General Information:

We can always use snow and avalanche information and your snowpack and avalanche observations could help to save someone’s life! 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 Saturday, Dec. 27, 2003.

Thanks for calling.