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 April 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 Saturday, April 16, 2005 and it’s 7:00 a.m.

Sunday, April 17th will be the last of my regularly scheduled advisories.

 

Announcements:

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:

Skies remained clear last night and temperatures are in the mid to upper 20’s, so we should have a decent refreeze of the snowpack. Winds are out of the west, blowing 10-20 mph along the ridges. Riding and sliding conditions remain quite good, though getting there is becoming a bit of a battle and a kidney belt should be standard apparel by now. There are still patches of dry powder up high on north facing slopes and darn good corn on the other side of the compass.

 

Avalanche Conditions: 

Last night was probably the last of the good solid refreezes until Monday when a strong cold front slides into the region.  If you’re a hardcore avalanche advisory reader you probably know the drill by now and can recite it in your sleep. Get on the snow early when it’s hard and supportable and off when things start to get wet and mushy. Yesterday, about the only avalanche activity reported were some small wet sluffs that occurred on steep sun exposed slopes during the heat of the day. I think today will be about the same, but with warmer temperatures and light winds on tap, the snow may become damper earlier in the day. Remember, the strong April sun is effecting every aspect out there and north facing slopes aren’t immune to wet avalanches this time of year. As the day heats up, you’ll want to get off of and out from under any steep sun exposed slope and terrain traps such as gullies and steep road cuts should be avoided  

 

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is generally LOW this morning and will rise to MODERATE on sun-exposed slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, with daytime heating. Human triggered avalanches will be possible as the day warms up.

 

Mountain Weather:

A ridge of high pressure will be over the region through Sunday and warm and dry weather is expected. Today, under partly cloudy skies temperatures should reach into the low 50’s at 8,000’ and near 40 degrees at 10,000’. Overnight lows will be in the upper 30’s. Winds will be out of the west and southwest and should remain in the 5-15 mph range for most of the day. Sunday looks like it’ll be a scorcher with temperatures soaring into the upper 50’s! Winds will be increasing out of the southwest and you guessed it, another storm is slated to arrive sometime Monday. Unsettled weather is on tap for the beginning of the 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 Sunday Apr.17, 2005.

 

Thanks for calling!