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 information update

 

Good morning and happy Thanksgiving! This is Craig Gordon with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with an avalanche information update for the western Uinta Mountains. Today is Thursday, November 25, 2004 and it’s 7:00 a.m.  I’ll be updating this information on an intermittent basis until there’s enough snow to really get the season rolling. This year I will be issuing avalanche and mountain weather advisories on Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, and all holidays.

 

Announcements:

We have installed a weather station in the Moffit Peak area. Click here to see temperatures and wind data.

Many thanks go out to the Utah Snowmobile Association for their generous contributions.

 

Current conditions:

Under mostly cloudy skies, overnight temperatures remained quite mild. Currently it’s in the upper 20’s at 8,000’ and near 20 degrees along the highest ridges. Northwesterly ridge-top winds started to increase around midnight. Hourly wind speed averages have been in the low teens with gusts in the mid 20’s. The riding and turning conditions are becoming pretty limited to shady slopes above about 9,500’ in elevation.

 

Avalanche Conditions: 

Yesterdays wimpy little storm was pretty disappointing, only depositing an inch of new snow. However winds have been pretty active and today’s main avalanche concern will be new wind drifts that formed overnight. You’ll find these to be limited to upper elevation leeward slopes. While shallow and pockety in nature, take care that one doesn’t surprise you and knock you off your feet or machine and ruin your turkey day. In the bigger picture, the next few days look to be fairly active in the weather department. With an abundance of weak surface snow on all aspects already in place and a good shot of snow headed our way, I expect the avalanche danger to rise in the next 24-36 hours.

If your planning to get out on the snow in the next few days make sure you have all the necessary avalanche safety equipment. You need to have avalanche beacons, shovels, and probes and you need to know how to use them.

 

Mountain Weather:

A snow advisory is in effect for the western Uinta Mountains. Light snowfall will develop late this afternoon and intensify this evening into Friday morning. Today’s high temperatures will be in the low 30’s at 8,000’ and in the mid 20’s at 10,000’. Overnight low will dip into the mid teens. Winds will be out of the west and southwest blowing at speeds of 15-25 mph along the ridges. It looks like we should see 6”-10” of new snow overnight, followed by a break on Friday afternoon. Another developing system should slide into the region Saturday, but the track is uncertain at the moment.

 

General Information: 

We’re interested in what you’re seeing especially if you observe or trigger an avalanche. Call 1-800-662-4140, or 801-231-2170, or email to [email protected] or fax to 801-524-6301 and fill us in with all the details. 

If you’d like to schedule a free snowmobile specific avalanche talk and or a field day, please call 801-231-2170.

The information in this update is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This update describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur. I will update this advisory by 7:30 a.m. on Friday Nov.26, 2004.

 

Thanks for calling!