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 Wednesday, February 18, 2004 and it’s 7:30 a.m.

 

Current conditions:

Under a veil of high clouds and a mild southwest flow, overnight low temperatures barely dipped below freezing last night at the upper elevations and it’s downright sultry at the trailheads. Currently it’s 31 degrees at 10,000’ and in the upper 30’s at 8,000’. Along the ridges, southerly winds are averaging 20 mph with gusts in the low 40’s at the most exposed locations. Riding and turning conditions vary with elevation. Above timberline the winds have had their way, damaging the more exposed terrain. Down low the snow is thick and gloppy. And in between there is some damp, settled snow that could pass for Seattle powder.

 

Avalanche Conditions:

Today we’ll be dealing with two distinctly different types of avalanches and these will be quite elevation dependant. At the upper elevations, I’m still concerned about the recent rash of human triggered slab avalanches that are running on the weak faceted snow that formed during the January dry spell. While it’s getting harder to trigger one of these slides, my snow stability tests indicate good clean shears at the slab/weak snow interface. Perhaps now it’ll take a bigger trigger such as a large cornice drop or several riders on a steep slope at the same time. Remember, slopes that have seen a lot of traffic this year will be much different than those that are seldom ridden on. So if you’re nosing into steep terrain that has seen little compaction, take the time to investigate the snowpack and see what you’re dealing with before you commit to a slope. You don’t have to dig down very far, and what you’re looking for is the combination of a dense slab on top of weak snow. This is easily identifiable by doing lots of quick hand pits and where this recipe exists you could still trigger a slab avalanche today.

Secondly, with no solid overnight refreeze, the surface snow is quite damp. On low and mid elevation slopes and even up high in terrain protected by the wind, steep slopes are sluffing easily. These wet slides are piling up tremendous amounts of bone crushing debris. Yesterday in American Fork Canyon a large natural wet sluff occurred, burying the road with 6’-7’ of snow. Today you’ll definitely want to avoid terrain traps such as gullies where you could be buried very deeply.

 

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is MODERATE today, at and above timberline, especially on northwest through east facing slopes steeper than about 35 degrees. Both human triggered slab and wet avalanches are possible.

At low and mid elevations and in wind-protected terrain on slopes steeper than 35 degrees the danger of wet avalanches is MODERATE this morning and may rise to CONSIDERABLE with daytime heating. Remember a CONSIDERABLE danger means human triggered avalanche are probable and natural avalanches possible.

 

Mountain Weather:

The big weather news is today’s winds as a strong southwest flow is developing ahead of a trough that should move into the region later tonight. There is a wind advisory in effect so hang on to your hats if you’re headed to the high country where winds will be out the southwest at speeds of 25-35 mph and gusts in the 50’s at the more exposed ridgeline locations. Skies will be mostly cloudy and temperatures quite mild. Look for highs at 10,000’ to reach near 36 degrees and at 8,000’ into the mid 40’s. Overnight lows will dip into the upper 20’s. Snow will begin to develop late tonight as some cold air filters into the state, though accumulations will be on the light side with 1”-3” expected. Thursday will be much colder with another 1”-3” of snow forecast. A ridge builds for Friday and skies will become partly cloudy then we have another small shot of snow headed our way for the beginning of the weekend.

 

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 Saturday, Feb.21, 2004.

Thanks for calling.