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 december 3, 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, December 3, 2005 and it’s 7:00 a.m. Avalanche advisories for the western Uintas are available on Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and all holidays.

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:

I’ll be giving a snowmobile specific avalanche awareness talk this Tuesday December 6th at 7:00 pm at Full Throttle Power Sports in Centerville.
 
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:

A cold front moved through the region late yesterday dropping a few more inches of snow and pulling the rug out from under the thermometer. Temperatures have dropped nearly twenty degrees in the past 24 hours. Currently it’s in the mid teens at 8,000’ and a bone chilling 3 degrees at 11,000’. Winds are out of the northwest and fairly light, blowing 10-15 mph along the ridges. Storm totals are really starting to stack up and it looks like the North Slope picked up the bulk of the moisture. Yesterday’s reports from the field indicate18” of new snow with some favored areas receiving nearly two feet! The unsupportable base and fuel burning depths left even the hottest riders spending most of the day digging their machines out of the snow. By most accounts it’s a wallow fest out there, though the northwest flow really skunked the southern half of the range where new snow totals are a manageable 8”-10”. While the snow cover might be a little thinner towards Mill Hollow and Current Creek you’ll probably have a less frustrating day and get more riding in. If you’re headed out on skis, breaking trail in most places is a Herculean event.

Avalanche Conditions:

This week’s storm pattern pounded the Uintas. Along with lots of wind and new snow we got slammed with a tremendous amount of water weight. All of this snow fell on a relatively weak snowpack, especially on upper elevation slopes facing northwest through east where there was pre-existing snow. I haven’t heard of any human triggered avalanche activity, but visibility has been less than ideal and travel conditions have limited where you can get to right now. However, other signs of an unstable snowpack are screaming out. Yesterday you could hear plenty of collapses and loud booming “whoomphs” which lead to cracking in the snow around your skis or machine. In general, the obvious weakness is faceted snow now buried near the middle of the snowpack. More concerning is the very weak snow near the ground and I think avalanches triggered today have the possibility of breaking into deeper buried weak layers. With all the rocks and stumps out there, going for a ride in an avalanche this time of year can have nasty consequences. The avalanche danger is more pronounced in areas that received the most snow.

A number of avalanche accidents and close calls occur early in the season when we don’t think there’s enough snow to avalanche. However, if there’s enough snow to ride on, there’s enough snow to slide. Start thinking about your safe travel rituals. Ride the slope one at a time, always keep an eye on your partner, and go out prepared with all the right rescue gear… avalanche beacons, shovels and probes, and know how to use them. Finally, if your buddy gets stuck on a slope, don’t go up to help.

Bottom Line:

In upper elevation terrain at and above tree line the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE today on northwest through east facing slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. A CONSIDERABLE danger means human triggered avalanche are probable, natural avalanches possible.

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

Mountain Weather:

A cold west to northwest flow will be over the region through the weekend giving us occasional snow showers and cold temperatures. Highs at 8,000’ will be in the mid teens and at 10,000’ near 10 degrees. Overnight lows will be near zero. Winds will be out of the northwest blowing 10-20 mph along the ridges. Light snow showers and mostly cloudy skies are expected for Sunday with slightly warmer temperatures. The region stays unsettled through about Tuesday and by mid week we should clear out and rebound from the ice-box temperatures.

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 December 4,2005.

Thanks for calling!