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 march 16, 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, March 16, 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, The Utah Snowmobile Association, and the National Weather Service. You can view data by clicking here.

For recent avalanche photos click here.

Current Conditions:

Partly cloudy skies developed overnight and temperatures are about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday at this time. Currently it’s in the low 20’s down along the trailheads and at the upper elevations in the low teens. Northwesterly winds are on the rise, blowing 15-25 mph at the upper elevations. In the past 24 hours we’ve received 2” of new snow, which is probably not going to be enough to help cushion all the hard crusts out there, but it will keep your hyfax cooled off and give you something to lay a ski edge into.

Avalanche Conditions:

There’s no reason to get out of the house at a break-neck pace this morning to beat the crowds or get on the snow before it gets too mushy. As a matter of fact, I think you’ll still have time to have an extra cup of coffee or even read another section of the paper, because lately the snow hasn’t been softening up until mid to late morning. While today is a bit warmer than the past few mornings, the cold Canadian air that has been over the region has literally frozen the snowpack in place. It would be pretty hard to trigger an avalanche today, but you might want to think about the consequences of going for a terrifying slide for life on a steep slope that has rock hard snow. The avalanche danger won’t remain static forever and with more snow and wind on the way the next few days be aware of changing weather conditions and the possibility of a rising avalanche danger.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is generally LOW today and both human triggered and natural avalanches are unlikely.

Mountain Weather:

Help may finally be on the way for those of us suffering from powder withdrawal as the first in a series of weather disturbances moves across the region later tonight into Thursday. Today we can expect increasing clouds with a flurry or two and slightly warmer temperatures. Highs at 8,000’ will be in the mid to upper 30’s and at 10,000’ in the upper 20’s. Overnight lows will be near 20 degrees. Winds will be switching to the southwest this afternoon and then west during the evening and should be fairly strong through Thursday. By the morning we should see 1”-3” of snow with snow showers expected throughout the day. A break in the weather is likely on Friday with another round of moisture slated for the weekend. None of these systems are particularly big, but we’ll get enough snow to freshen things up a bit.

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 Mar.19, 2005.

Thanks for calling!