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 february 2, 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, February 2, 2005 and it’s 7:00 a.m.

 

Announcements:

A beacon-training center has been installed at the Nobletts trailhead and “Beacon Basin” up and running!
Many thanks go out to Backcountry Access for supplying all the equipment, Doug Page and all the 
volunteers who provided manpower, Jim Conway who was the brains behind the operation, and the
Kamas and Heber Ranger Districts, along with State Parks and The Utah Snowmobile Association
for their in-kind support. Swing by and check it out before going on the snow. It’s free and within walking 
distance from the parking lot.
 
The Moffit Peak weather station is back in operation. This site was made possible through generous donations
from BRORA and The Utah Snowmobile Association. You can view data by clicking here.

 

For recent avalanche photos click here.

 

Current Conditions:

Skies cleared out nicely overnight allowing temperatures to drop into the upper single digits along the ridges and down at the trailheads. Winds are out of the east and southeast blowing 10 mph with gusts near 20 mph along the most exposed ridgelines. The little storm that kept on giving, has deposited around 6” of very light density snow since Saturday and at the upper elevations the riding and turning conditions are much improved. There has been some wind damage up high and sunny slopes offer a variety of tricky crusts that can easily trip you up, but on sheltered shady slopes it’s hero snow.

 

Avalanche Conditions: 

The last little blast of snow we received is very light in density and today we’ll be dealing with two different types of avalanches. First, this Utah fluff is getting blown around at the upper elevations and forming fairly sensitive soft slabs on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges. I was finding most of these slabs to average about a foot in depth. Yesterday, while I was stomping around along the high ridges, it was easy to trigger soft slab avalanches and I was surprised at how far they were running on the slick crusts underneath. They’re big enough to catch you off guard and fast enough to knock you over and take you for an unexpected body-bruising ride. Secondly, on steep slopes not affected by the wind, I was able to trigger some pretty sizable loose snow sluffs and these were running quite far as well. In either case, if you’re getting onto steep slopes today, a well placed slope cut would be the ticket to help avoid any surprises.   

 

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is MODERATE today on upper elevation slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches will be possible.

In wind sheltered terrain and at lower elevations on slopes less steep than about 35 degrees, the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

 

Mountain Weather:

A northeast flow will be over the area through tonight giving us partly cloudy skies with an occasional high cloud or two. High temperatures at 10,000’ will be in the upper 20’s and at 8,000’ near freezing. Overnight lows will be near 20 degrees. Winds will be shifting to the northeast throughout the day, blowing in the 15-25 mph range along the high ridges. High pressure builds on Thursday through Saturday and skies should be mostly sunny. Temperatures will be on the rise with highs reaching into the mid 40’s by Friday. A cold storm out of the Gulf of Alaska will move into the region late Saturday night and this should give us a decent shot of snow lingering into the early part of next week.

 

General Information: 

We’re interested in what you’re seeing especially if you see 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 Feb. 5, 2005.

 

Thanks for calling!