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

wednesday DECEMber 29, 2004

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, December 29, 2004 and it’s 7:30 a.m.

Announcements:

We’re experiencing some technical difficulties with the Moffit Peak weather station. Hopefully I’ll have those worked out this week.

For recent avalanche photos click here.

Current Conditions:

Snowfall started around 11:00 last night and so far it looks like the southern portions of the range have faired the best. Snow totals from Daniels Summit to Trial Lake look pretty even with about 6” of new snow. The North Slope is a little bit behind with closer to 4”. Temperatures are in the mid 20’s at 10,000’ and near 30 degrees at 8,000’. Winds are out of the southwest and have backed off a bit, with hourly averages in the low 20’s and gusts in the mid 30’s along the ridges. The riding and sliding conditions will have vastly improved overnight.

Avalanche Conditions:

The avalanche danger will be increasing throughout the day, so you’ll need to be aware of changing weather conditions. With another 1’-2’ of snow expected during the day coupled with increasing winds, I’d expect newly formed wind drifts will become more sensitive and widespread. I think most of the avalanche activity will start out at the upper elevations this morning involving the new wind drifts. This is pretty straightforward, but what also concerns me is the weak surface snow at mid elevations and in wind protected terrain. The weak surface facets formed by the recent dry spell, won’t take much weight before we start to see avalanches and it could start to get tricky out there as the new snow stacks up. In addition, there are lots of old slick bed surfaces for avalanches to run on and they might travel a little farther and faster than you’d expect. I’d steer clear of avalanche runout zones, especially later today.

Today you’ll need to watch your slope angles and follow safe travel techniques. Only put one person on the slope at a time, always keep an eye on your partner, and get out of the way and into a safe location at the bottom of the slope.

Remember to carry all the necessary safety gear. Everyone needs to be wearing avalanche beacons, shovels, and probes.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is MODERATE this morning on all slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are possible.

With more wind and snow I expect the avalanche danger will rapidly rise to CONSIDERABLE on all steep slopes. That means human triggered avalanches are probable and natural avalanches are possible.

Be aware of changing weather conditions especially strong afternoon winds and heavy snowfall, which may increase the avalanche danger to HIGH by days end.

Mountain Weather:

It looks like we’ll see snow, heavy at times today, and a winter storm warning remains in effect for the area until early Thursday morning. While we may see some short-lived breaks in the action during the day, accumulations of 1’-2’ are expected above 7000’ by Thursday morning. Temperatures will be quite mild with highs at 8,000’ in the lower 30’s and at 10,000’ in the mid 20’s. Overnight lows will be near 20 degrees. Winds will be out of the southwest at speeds of 15-25 mph increasing to 20-30 mph along the ridges in the afternoon. Tonight, winds will remain strong and will start to back off a bit on Thursday when we see a little break in the action. Another system slides into the region on Friday and should stick around through the weekend.

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 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 Jan. 1, 2005.

Thanks for calling!