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, January 3, 2004 and it’s 7:30 a.m.

Current conditions:

Skies are partly cloudy and 10,000’ temperatures are near 10 degrees. Winds have remained fairly calm for the past 24 hours, generally out of the west and southwest at speeds of 10-20 mph along the upper elevation ridgelines. The central core of the Uintas got slammed yesterday with up to 20” of light density snow. Riding and turning conditions remain quite good and even low angle slopes are fast and fun.

Avalanche Conditions:

Yesterday’s new snow was a bit of a double-edged sword. The good news is it was yet another epic day of over-the-hood riding and face-shot skiing. The bad news is all of this new snow has hidden the dangerous hard slabs created by Thursdays wind event. Visibility has been meager at best the past few days and I haven’t been able to spot any natural avalanche activity other than sluffing within the new snow. However, I did encounter plenty signs of deeper instability such as cracking around my skis and machine as well as a loud, booming collapse on a mid elevation slope with a relatively shallow snowpack.

There are several avalanche concerns you’ll need to think about today. First off the new snow is very light and is sluffing easily on steep wind sheltered slopes. These sluffs are entraining quite a bit of snow as they descend the slope, so take care that one doesn’t knock you off your feet or machine and carry you into a terrain trap such as a gully.

In wind exposed terrain at mid and upper elevations shallow soft slabs have formed in the past day and these will be quite sensitive to the added weight of a backcountry traveler.

And finally, the much more dangerous avalanche today will be the hard slabs that formed on Thursday. Hard slabs tend to be dangerous because they allow you to get well out onto the slope before they fail. They will be hard to detect today, but will often have a hollow sound, sort of like a drum. Once triggered these avalanches have the possibility of propagating long distances and stepping into weaker layers buried in the snowpack. This combination would produce a large, dangerous, and possibly unsurvivable avalanche.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE today on all steep slopes at and above timberline, especially those with recent deposits of wind-drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are probable and natural avalanches are possible.

The avalanche danger is MODERATE on all steep slopes at mid elevations. Human triggered avalanches are possible.

At low elevations and on slopes less than 30 degrees in steepness the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

Mountain Weather:

A cold unstable airmass will be over the region today giving us one last gasp of snow, though totals will only be in the 2”-4” range. Temperatures will be cold with highs at 10,000’ near 10 degrees and at 8,000’ in the mid teens. Overnight lows will be near zero. Winds will be out of the west through northwest at speeds of 10-15 mph along the ridges. Sunday looks to be mostly cloudy and light snow showers are expected. Temperatures will be the coldest this season with highs at 10,000’ near zero. Monday is a transition day and another weak system should move into the region on Tuesday.

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 Sunday, Jan. 4, 2004.

Thanks for calling.