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

saturday march 19, 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 Saturday, March 19, 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:

A series of weather disturbances moving off the Pacific are headed our way, breaking the seamlessly never ending dry spell of the past month. Clouds, temperatures, and of course wind, are all on the rise this morning ahead of the first system slated to arrive late tonight. Under mostly cloudy skies temperatures are nearly ten degrees warmer than yesterday at this time, hovering in the mid 20’s at the trailheads and at the upper elevations. Winds are generally out of the northwest, blowing 10-20 mph along the ridges. Riding and sliding conditions are much improved as Thursday nights little storm deposited 8”-10” at the upper elevations. The new snow was fairly light in density and fell on some rock hard crusts. So if your looking for turns today, lower angle slopes just might be the ticket to help cushion the concrete feel underneath.

Avalanche Conditions:

After a long lull in the weather and avalanche department things are starting to change and it looks like we could be in for an exciting week. If the weather forecast verifies, I’d expect a rising avalanche danger over the next 12-24 hours. For this morning however, things are still pretty manageable but you’ll need to be on the lookout for fresh wind drifts, which have been forming on the leeward side of upper elevation ridgelines. Yesterday while I was stomping around, I was able to trigger shallow soft slab avalanches, which were up to about a foot in depth. These slabs were pockety and easily mitigated with a slope cut. With more wind and snow on the way, I’d expect slabs to become deeper and more widespread as the day progresses. Before committing to a big open bowl or steep chute, get as much information as possible by tweaking small test slopes with little or no consequences that are similar in aspect, elevation, and slope angle. Remember, there’s plenty of very slick bed surfaces out there for avalanches to run on and even a small slide on a steep slope, can take you for a fast body-thumping ride.

Bottom Line:

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

In wind sheltered terrain the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

Mountain Weather:

It looks like we’ll see an active weather period for the upcoming week and the first impulse is knocking on the door. Today we can expect mostly cloudy skies with snow developing late tonight and lasting through Sunday. It looks like we could wind up with a foot or so of new snow by Monday morning. This pattern is similar to the other systems this season, so expect mild temperatures to accompany these storms. Highs today at 8,000’ will be in the upper 30’s and at 10,000’ near freezing. Overnight lows will be in the mid 20’s. Winds will be switching to southwest today and then to the west tonight blowing 15-25 mph and increasing on Sunday to 20-30 mph along the ridges. A break is expected on Monday and Tuesday with another system scheduled to drop into the region late Wednesday or Thursday.

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 Sunday Mar.20, 2005.

Thanks for calling!