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 march 20, 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, March 20, 2005 and it’s 7:00 a.m.

Announcements:

If you want to test your avalanche beacon skills, come join us for “Beacon and Eggs” at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort on Saturday March 26th. A revised Easter egg hunt with buried avalanche beacons will take place, and searchers finding the buried beacons in the fastest time will win some great prizes! For more information you can go the website or call 1-800-232-9542. 
 
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:

The storm is still working it’s way into the region and ahead of the cold front, snow starting falling at about 1:00 this morning. So far we’ve received close to 3” of new snow at the upper elevations and presently, light snow is falling. I’d expect snowfall intensities to rapidly increase in the next few hours as it looks like a pretty juicy system is headed our way. Temperatures are a bit warmer than yesterday at this time and are currently in the upper teens at the ridge tops and near 30 degrees at the trailheads. Winds are light, out of the west and northwest, blowing 10-15 mph along the ridges. Riding and turning conditions keep improving and low angle slopes still seem to be the ticket because your not slamming into the old hard crusts that are now setup like curb and gutter.

Avalanche Conditions:

Today’s storm will begin to change the avalanche danger and I’d expect a rising avalanche danger throughout the day. With an additional 4”-8” of new snow expected, coupled with strong winds, freshly formed wind drifts will be widespread and could be several feet deep along the leeward side of upper elevation ridgelines. As the snow starts to stack up today you’ll want to avoid any steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. There’s plenty of slick, hard bed surfaces for avalanches to run on. Today’s avalanches will have the possibility of running a little further and faster than you might think and will pack a pretty good punch. If you’re getting into steep terrain today, get as much information about the snowpack as possible before committing to a big line. Tweak lots of small test slopes with little consequence that are the same elevation, slope angle, and aspect that you want to ride on. In addition, a well-placed slope cut may help you to evaluate the terrain. If you’re looking to minimize your possibility of triggering an avalanche today, stick with protected terrain out of the wind.

Bottom Line:

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

The avalanche danger may rise to CONSIDERABLE in this type of terrain by the afternoon. Remember a CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are probable, natural avalanches possible.

In wind sheltered terrain the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

Mountain Weather:

A snow advisory is in effect for the western Uinta Mountains today and we can expect an additional 4”-8” of snow with higher accumulations possible in favored areas. Temperatures will be cooling in the next few hours and highs at 8,000’ will be in the upper 20’s and at 10,000’ near 20 degrees. Overnight lows will be in the upper teens. Winds will increase with frontal passage and should be out of the west, blowing 15-25 mph along the ridges. A few lingering showers should last into Monday morning, then we should see a break on Tuesday with another system slated to arrive Wednesday sometime. It looks like it’ll be an active weather 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 Wednesday Mar.23, 2005.

Thanks for calling!