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

sunday february 6, 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 Sunday, February 6, 2005 and it’s 7:00 a.m.

Announcements:

Friday nights fundraiser held at the Snowbird Ski Resort was an amazing success. All proceeds go to help 
the wildly popular “Know Before You Go” avalanche education program. 
Thank you very much for all the support! 
 
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 and the National Weather Service. You can view data by clicking here.

For recent avalanche photos click here.

Current Conditions:

Yesterday’s cold front came and went with little fanfare other than a few clouds and cooler temperatures. Currently, under partly cloudy skies, temperatures are in the low teens at 11,000’ and in the mid teens down at 8,000’. Winds have died down for the moment, blowing out of the northwest at speeds of 10-20 mph along the ridges. Saturday’s weather brought a lot of folks out and people were getting after it. Unless you have a super secret stash of powder you’ll have to get kind of creative, because most popular slopes have seen a ton of traffic.

Avalanche Conditions:

It was another quiet day in the Uintas and I didn’t see or hear of any new avalanche activity. However, while teaching an avalanche class to a group of fellow riders we all got to see just how weak the surface snow has become. It was agreed that the weak, near surface facets formed by the recent dry spell, wouldn’t take much weight before they fail. So, this recycled powder is a perfect weak layer, now all we need is to put a slab on top of it. With a storm on the way, the missing ingredient will be added to the avalanche recipe and I think the avalanche danger will be on the rise for the next few days. For today though, the chances of triggering an avalanche are pretty slim unless you’re at higher elevations where the winds have been blowing steadily for the past two days. If you’re unlucky enough to find a rogue wind slab on a steep slope, chances are it’ll be pretty sensitive to your additional weight. With all the hard, slick bed-surfaces out there for avalanches to run on, even a small slide can take you for a fast body-beating ride. Slope cuts on steep wind loaded slopes will help to avoid any surprises or you can just play it safe and avoid any recent wind drift.

Bottom Line:

At low and mid elevations the avalanche danger is generally LOW today. Both human triggered and natural avalanches are unlikely.

While very isolated and pockety in nature, in upper elevation terrain, above timberline, there is a MODERATE avalanche danger on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, with recent deposits of wind-drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are possible.

Mountain Weather:

The storm is still on its way and today we can expect increasing clouds with snow developing late tonight. High temperatures at 10,000’ will be in the low to mid 20’s and at 8,000’ near freezing. Overnight lows will be close to 22 degrees. Winds will be light and southwesterly and may increase into the 15-25 mph range along the highest ridges late this afternoon. There’s plenty of cold air associated with tonight’s storm and we may see a lightening strike or two with frontal passage. Snow should begin tonight and we’re probably looking at 2”-4” overnight with an additional 3”-8” on Monday. Snow showers could linger into early Tuesday and the feeling is, we’ll still get a foot of snow out of this system. A little break is on tap for Wednesday and the computer models try to bring a weak system into the region later in the week, but the juries still out on this one.

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 Wednesday Feb. 9, 2005.

Thanks for calling!