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 Sunday, February 1, 2004 and it’s 7:30 a.m.

 

Current conditions:

It’s a cold one out there this morning and under partly cloudy skies, 10,000’ temperatures are still hovering around zero degrees. Winds are out of the northwest at speeds of 10-15 mph with an occasional gust in the mid 20’s at the most wind exposed locations. Friday night’s storm was quite location and elevation dependant. In the upper elevation terrain surrounding the North Slope, 10” of new snow fell, whereas the southern parts of the range received around 6”. In any case the light density snow that fell has vastly improved the riding and turning conditions and even low angle slopes are fast and fun.

 

Avalanche Conditions:

Reports from backcountry observers yesterday indicate the new snow didn’t bond well to the rain/rime crust that formed on Thursday and steep wind protected slopes at both mid and upper elevations were sluffing easily at this interface. Clear skies and cold overnight temperatures would have allowed the new snow to weaken a bit and I’d suspect today’s sluffs could be a little bigger than you might expect and have the possibility of entraining more snow as they descend steep slopes. Be careful that one doesn’t take you for a ride over a cliff band or bury you in a terrain trap such as a gully.

At upper elevations it’s a different story as the winds were able to form shallow, yet sensitive soft slabs near ridgelines. While the winds are beginning to diminish this morning, they’re forecast to increase later today ahead of a weakening storm system. It won’t take much wind to blow all this light fluffy snow around so be alert to changing weather conditions as the day wares on.

Finally, we can’t forget about all the weak snow created during the January thaw, which is now getting buried, deeper in our snowpack. Instabilities such as these are notoriously persistent and what makes this pattern tricky is the weakest snow can be found on shady mid and lower elevation slopes.

 

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is MODERATE today at upper elevations, above timberline on all slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those with recent deposits of wind-drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are possible.

In wind-sheltered terrain and on slopes less steep than 35 degrees at all elevations the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

 

Mountain Weather:

After a clear morning, we can expect increasing clouds later in the day as a weak system brushes by the northern portions of the state. High temperatures at 10,000’ will be near 10 degrees and at 8,000’ in the upper teens. Overnight lows will dip into the single digits. Winds will be light and out of the northwest this morning, switching to the southwest later in the day. Wind speeds will be on the rise and by this evening should be blowing in the 15-25 mph range along the ridges. Monday should be mostly cloudy and breezy as well with a slight chance of snow developing mainly in the afternoon. A better shot of moisture will move into the region on Tuesday, though the jury’s still out on this one as it may dive south of us.  

 

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 Wednesday, Feb.4, 2004.

Thanks for calling.