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