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 January 5, 2005

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, January 5, 2005 and it’s 7:00 a.m.

Announcements:

We’re experiencing some technical difficulties with the Moffit Peak weather station. Hopefully I’ll have those worked out by late this week. Thanks for your patience.

For recent avalanche photos click here.

Current Conditions:

Yesterdays forecast storm was a little late to arrive, but it finally got here early this morning and as of 6:00 am we’ve received 5” of very light density snow. Temperatures are in the mid teens and winds are less than 10 mph even along the highest ridges. On a mostly supportable base the riding and turning conditions will be quite good today.

Avalanche Conditions:

After a pretty wild weekend with a number of large natural avalanches reported throughout the range things have calmed down a bit and I haven’t heard of any new avalanche activity since Sunday. Today, we’ll have two main avalanche concerns to focus on. First, this mornings snow is very light and it won’t take much wind to blow it around into sensitive wind drifts. You’ll find these mostly along the high ridges and they should be pretty manageable, especially with a well-placed slope cut. Should the winds be stronger than forecast, be aware of more widespread and deeper slabs forming.

Secondly, while it seems the snowpack is slowly adjusting to all the added weight of last weeks storm, remember all this snow and wind slammed down onto a notoriously weak snow surface layer, called near surface facets. Near surface facets with a slab on top is what I call “sucker” snow, because this combination gives you the false sense that the snowpack is strong and suckers you way out onto the slope before it fails. Often times you can place a dozen sets of tracks on a slope without incident until someone finds a weak spot in the pack and then you’re looking down the barrel of a large and dangerous avalanche. Basically it’s still a minefield out there and the usual suspect terrain such as steep, rocky slopes, with a shallow weak snowpack should be approached with caution.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is MODERATE today at and above tree line, on all slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those with recent deposits of wind-drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are possible.

While not widespread, there remains a MODERATE danger of triggering a more dangerous avalanche into deeper layers in the snowpack especially on steep, rocky slopes with a weak shallow snowpack.

At lower elevations and in wind sheltered terrain the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

Mountain Weather:

Today we should see mostly cloudy skies, cool temperatures, and snow showers with additional accumulations in the 4”-8” range. Winds will be out of the west today and may increase later in the day, blowing 15-25 mph along the highest ridges. High temperatures at 10,000’ will be in the upper teens and at 8,000’ in the mid 20’s. Overnight lows will be near zero. Thursday we should see a break in the action as we’ll be in between storm systems and we might even see the sun poke out for a while. Temperatures will be a few degrees warmer and westerly winds will be increasing throughout the day. Friday should be very windy as another strong Pacific storm system moves into the region for 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. 8, 2005.

Thanks for calling!