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 information update

monDAY november 14, 2005

Good evening. This is Craig Gordon with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather update for the western Uinta Mountains. Today is Monday, November 14, 2005 and it’s 9:00 p.m.

I’ll begin issuing regularly scheduled avalanche advisories- Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and all holidays- once there’s enough snow on the ground.

Announcements:

The Moffit Peak weather station is back in operation. This site was made possible through generous donations
by BRORA, The Utah Snowmobile Association, and the National Weather Service. You can view data by clicking here.

For avalanche photos click here.

Current Conditions:

The western Uinta Mountains got walloped with a one, two punch last night and today. The first hit came in with a strong dose of styrofoam-like graupel. Winds picked up overnight and ushered in a second round of dense snow today. Storm totals are elevation dependent, with the lions share falling above 9,000’. At upper elevations we’ve received close to 14” of new snow! Now I’ve got to caution you, there’s no reason to call in sick tomorrow, but if you are out and about you’ll need to start thinking about avalanches. Up high along the ridges, wind drifts are several feet deep and it’s possible to trigger avalanches on steep, upper elevation wind drifted slopes. In addition, cross loading occurred around terrain features, like chutes and gullies.

Before even getting on the snow, it’s a good time to check that all your avalanche safety gear is in good working condition. Dust off your avalanche beacon and drop a fresh set of batteries in it. Think about going through your pack to make sure your shovel and probe didn’t wind up getting mixed in with the summer garage sale items. Also, start practicing with all your gear before the snow even starts to fly! I’ll have the “Beacon Basin” training site up and running again this year at the Nobletts trailhead. Finally, if you haven’t taken one of our free snowmobile specific avalanche awareness classes, schedule one now before things get too crazy. Give me a call at 801-231-2170 and I’d be happy to tailor a talk for your group.

Mountain Weather: Clearing skies and much colder temperatures are on tap for Tuesday. Highs at 10,000 will only reach into the upper teens and at 8,000’ in the mid 20’s. The remainder of the week we’ll see warming temperatures and sunny skies. There are no big storms in sight.

General Information:

We’re looking for feedback on our new advisory page. Click here to check out the new “MOCK UP”. I’d like to hear what you think and you can email me at [email protected] with comments and suggestions.

Also, I’m 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.

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’ll update this advisory as conditions warrant.

Thanks for calling!