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

saturDAY november 26, 2005

 

Good morning! 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 Saturday, November 26, 2005 and it’s 7:00 a.m. I’ll begin issuing regularly scheduled avalanche advisories- Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and all holidays- once there’s enough snow on the ground. 

Remember- this advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to Mirror Lake, to the North Slope of the western Uinta Mountains. That’s a lot of turf and I can’t be in all of these places at once. Your snow and avalanche observations are critical to this program and help to save other riders lives by getting accurate information out to the public. I’m interested in what you’re seeing especially if you see or trigger an avalanche. Please call 1-800-662-4140, or 801-231-2170, or email to [email protected] and fill us in with all the details. 

 

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.

 

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.

 

Current Conditions:

Light snow developed around 3:00 this morning and so far about an inch or two has fallen. Temperatures are in the mid 20’s at 8,000’ and upper teens along the ridges and should be dropping throughout the day. Winds turned northwesterly early this morning and have been blowing 15-30 mph. The riding conditions will vastly improve with the expected storm amounts, but right now with only 2’ of total snow on the ground, it’s probably best to stick on the packed trails or go to your favorite grassy, boulder free slope.

 

Avalanche Conditions:

The past few weeks have been hard on our shallow snowpack. Most of the sunny slopes have reverted to their fall colors and are brown and snow free. The shady slopes though, still have snow above 9,000’ and depths average about 2’ or so at the higher elevations. Unfortunately, the clear cold nights during the recent dry spell has turned the snowpack weak and sugary, creating a fragile house of cards. Over the next 24 hours our weak snowpack will be rapidly loaded with snow and wind and I’d expect a rising avalanche danger particularly on upper elevation slopes with an existing snowpack. As the new snow starts to stack up I think you’ll be able to trigger avalanches on steep slopes, especially those with recent deposits of wind-drifted snow.

You’ll want to start thinking about avalanches and go out prepared with all the right rescue gear… avalanche beacons, shovels and probes. Surprisingly, quite a few avalanche accidents and close calls occur early in the season when riders don’t think there’s enough snow to avalanche. Remember- if there’s enough snow to ride on, there’s enough snow to slide.

 

Mountain Weather: 

A strong cold front moving across the region with usher in a cold, moist, unstable storm system, which will be with us through the weekend. Storm totals should be in the 10”-16” range. Snowfall should begin to increase later in the day and we should see 4”-8” by sunset. Temperatures will be dropping during the day and highs will only reach into the mid 20’s at 8,000’ and low teens along the ridges. Overnight lows will be in the single digits. Winds will be out of the west and northwest blowing 15-25 mph. Tonight, another good shot of snow is expected and we should see an additional 4”-8”. Snow showers are expected for Sunday, but will be tapering off during the day. The storm pattern looks good with a break on Monday and another system lined up for the middle of the week!

 

General Information: 

Once there’s enough snow, I’ll have the “Beacon Basin” training site up and running again this year at the Nobletts trailhead.  Also, 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.  

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 by 7:30 a.m. on Sunday November 27,2005.

 

Thanks for calling!