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 30, 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 30, 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:

Snowfall started late last night and most sites are reporting 6”-8” of new snow since the storm began. The National Weather Service has issued a heavy snow warning for the region through noon today and we can expect an additional 4”-8” of snow. It feels like winter out there again with temperatures in the upper teens at the trailheads and near 6 degrees along the upper elevation ridges. Coupled with winds out of the northwest at speeds of 15-25 mph and you’re looking at wind chills of minus 8 degrees. Brrr…better break the mittens out. The riding and sliding conditions are deep and creamy particularly on mid elevation, wind protected slopes and the low angle terrain is fast and fun.

Avalanche Conditions:

After a pretty wimpy start, March is definitely going out like a lion. Today’s biggest avalanche concern will be all the sensitive new wind drifts that have formed overnight at the upper elevations. The cold, light density snow we received will be blown around easily today. I’d expect new wind drifts could be several feet deep on the leeward side of ridges and terrain features such as chutes and gullies, especially at the higher elevations. Most of the new slabs should be pretty manageable, but you’ll definitely want to assess each steep slope before diving into it. A well-placed slope cut is a good defensive measure. Be aware, there is an outside chance today’s avalanches may step down and run on the crust formed by last weekends warm weather. This would produce a larger and possibly longer running avalanche than you might expect. A good way to get a handle on what’s going on with the snow is to stop once in a while and dig down with your hand and check out the layering. It only takes a couple of seconds and it can give you a lot of quick information. Finally, today would be a good day to keep practicing your safe travel routine. Only put one person on the slope at a time, have an escape route planned, get out of the way and into a safe location at the bottom of the slope, and always keep an eye on your partner. Even though it’s late in the season we should still be thinking about avalanches.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE today on upper elevation slopes, especially those that are steeper than about 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are probable and natural avalanches possible.

At mid elevations on slopes steeper than 35 degrees with recent wind drifts the avalanche danger is MODERATE and human triggered avalanches are possible.

If your looking for areas of LOW avalanche danger stick to non-wind effected slopes less steep than 30 degrees.

Mountain Weather:

This morning we should see mostly cloudy skies with occasional heavy snow showers and we might be able to squeeze another 6” or so out of this storm. Temperatures will be on the cool side with highs at 8,000’ in the upper 20’s and at 10,000’ in the low teens. Overnight lows will be in the mid single digits. Winds will be out of the northwest blowing 15-25 mph along the ridges. By this afternoon we should start to see partly cloudy skies as the storm breaks up and moves to the east. Thursday will be mostly sunny with highs in the mid 30’s. A strong warming trend develops for Friday with temperatures spiking into the lower 40s and Saturday’s highs will be in the upper 40’s. Another storm should move into the region by late Sunday.

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 Apr.2, 2005.

Thanks for calling!