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 24, 2004 and it’s 7:30 a.m. Backcountry Awareness Week begins on January 19^th and runs through the 25^th. There are some great events scheduled for the upcoming week and you can read all about it at http://www.backcountryawareness.com/

Current conditions:

Clouds began streaming in late last night and currently under overcast skies 10,000’ temperatures are in the mid 20’s. Westerly winds are starting to increase, blowing at speeds of 10-20 mph with gusts in the upper 20’s at the more wind-exposed locations. It’s been about two weeks since our last significant snowfall and riding and turning conditions vary with aspect and elevation. In the upper elevation wind-exposed terrain, many slopes are punchy and variable, and the southerly aspects are a mix of challenging sun crusts and even bare ground at some lower elevations. However, it’s not all doom and gloom and you can still find very good recrystalized powder on shady, wind-sheltered slopes.

Avalanche Conditions:

Two weeks of clear skies and no significant new snow has really taken its toll on the strength of the snowpack. With a storm on the horizon, today is the last chance to get out and see what the old snow surface looks like before it gets buried. It’s a bit of a complicated pattern and there is a wide assortment of conditions to be on the lookout for today. First off, on the wind-sheltered north facing slopes, at both mid and upper elevations, a thick layer of very weak surface snow has developed and these near surface facets are quite fragile and won’t be able to withstand much of an additional load before they fail. In fact, one of our observers reported that on very steep slopes the surface snow was sluffing easily, so take care today that one doesn’t carry you off a cliff or bury you in a terrain trap such as a gully. Secondly, in terrain where snow depths are shallow, the pack has lost a significant amount of strength near the ground as well. And finally, a variety of hard, slick bed-surfaces have developed and they will be perfect for avalanches to run on. These range from melt-freeze crusts on the sunny slopes to stout wind slabs in the upper elevation wind exposed terrain.

Winds will be on the rise, especially later in the afternoon so be on the lookout for shallow wind slabs that have formed on the leeward side of upper elevation ridgelines. While avalanche conditions should be generally quiet today, I’d expect a rising avalanche danger once the storm arrives.

Bottom Line:

At all elevations the avalanche danger is generally LOW today. Human triggered avalanches are unlikely.

Mountain Weather:

Today we should see mostly cloudy skies with light snow starting to develop over the region by late afternoon. Temperatures will be cooling throughout the day with highs at 10,000’ in the low to mid 20’s and at 8,000’ near 32 degrees. Overnight lows will be in the mid teens. Westerly winds will be increasing throughout the day and by this evening should be blowing in the 20-30 mph range. Tonight will be our best chance of snow with 5”-8” forecast. Sunday looks to be cloudy, cold, and windy with another 3”-6” of snow possible.

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.

I will update this advisory by 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2004.

Thanks for calling.