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, March 10, 2004 and it’s 7:30 a.m.

Current conditions:

Skies are in the process of clearing, as last nights cold front exits the region. Current 10,000’ temperatures are in the mid 20’s and winds are out of the northwest at speeds of 10-20 mph along the ridges. Riding and turning conditions vary with aspect and elevation. Up high, winds nuked much of the exposed terrain over the weekend and the majority of north facing aspects are severely wind damaged. On the other side of the compass, south-facing slopes may offer some supportable corn-like conditions for a few hours this morning. And if you’re looking for powder, it’s in short supply, but patches of soft settled snow will be found on sheltered, shady slopes

Avalanche Conditions:

Spring has definitely sprung and with this seasonal transition we’ll need to switch gears as well and start focusing on the potential for wet avalanche activity. The key ingredients to a stable snowpack this time of year are clear skies at night and cold temperatures. Last night we really struck out as neither of these factors materialized. Under a veil of high clouds, temperatures did drop into the mid 20’s up high. However, it was downright balmy at both mid and lower elevations. Below about 9,000’ overnight lows were only in the low to mid 30’s. With another mild day on tap and a marginal refreeze, I’d suspect this is where we’ll see the majority of wet avalanches today. Remember the sun is high in the sky so it’s starting to affect even the northerly facing slopes turning the surface snow into loose, cohensionless muck as the day heats up. Some our weakest snow exists at mid and lower elevations and small wet avalanches triggered today have the possibility of stepping into deeper, buried weak layers. In steep rocky terrain that has had a shallow snowpack all season, pockets of wet slab have been running on weak snow close to the ground. Wet avalanches, while often slow moving, have the consistency of cement and can pile up huge amounts of tree snapping debris. So today your best bet is to get on the snow early and get off of and out from under steep sun-exposed slopes as the day wares on.

Bottom Line:

At upper elevations the danger of wet avalanche activity is LOW this morning, rising to MODERATE with daytime heating, on steep sun-exposed slopes. Human triggered avalanches will be possible.

At mid and low elevations the avalanche danger is MODERATE this morning, rising to CONSIDERABLE with daytime heating, on all steep slopes. Human triggered avalanches will be probable and natural avalanches possible with daytime heating.

Mountain Weather:

Skies will become mostly sunny this morning as high pressure quickly rebounds. Temperatures will be a little cooler today with highs at 10,000’ reaching into the mid 20’s and at 8,000’ in the low 40’s. Under clear skies, overnight lows will dip into the mid teens. Winds will generally be out of the north at speeds of 10-20 mph along the upper elevations ridgelines. Thursday will be even warmer with sunny skies and high temperatures in the upper 40’s. Friday looks to be partly cloudy and breezy with a decent shot of snow developing for the upcoming 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, Mar.13, 2004.

Thanks for calling.