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 31, 2005

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am sunday january 1, 2006.

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 31, 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:

A special thanks to Tri-City Performance, Polaris and The Utah Snowmobile Association for stepping up to the plate and partnering
to provide a new sled for this program. 
 
The Moffit Peak weather station is up and running. 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:

A strong moist and mild southwest flow developed over the region and will linger into Sunday morning. Temperatures are mild, winds strong and the snow that fell overnight is Seattle’s finest… and I’m not talkin’ coffee. Snowfall totals above 9,500’ are around 10” with close to a whopping 1½” of water. For those of you without a calculator handy, that equates to 15% density snow, about 1½ times our normal average. This morning’s rain/snow line should be near 8,000’ where temperatures are in the low to mid 30’s and I’d suspect a rain/snow mix has been falling at these elevations. Up high at 11,000’ it’s in the mid 20’s and winds have been raging along the ridges for nearly 24 hours, from the south, southwest, west and northwest. Hourly averages have been in the mid 20’s with an occasional gust in the low 50’s. It’s going to be a nasty day out there with strong winds, heavy wet snow and an increasing avalanche danger.

Avalanche Conditions:

After a relatively benign start, it’s turning into a busy week in the western Uinta’s. Storm totals are beginning to add up and along with strong winds and rising temperatures, be aware of an increasing avalanche danger in the next 12-24 hours. In fact, the human triggered avalanche cycle got started on Thursday, when a group of very experienced riders triggered a rather substantial slide on Double Hill, near the Whitney Reservoir. This slide was about 3’ in depth, close to 300’ wide and traveled a couple hundred vertical feet downhill. One rider and his sled were partially buried, but thankfully everyone came out ok and unharmed. Today’s avalanches will be a different story and if you trigger a slide the outcome might not be as rosy. This storm is slamming a lot of weight down on the snowpack and today’s avalanches have the potential to be large and dangerous. The dense heavy snow and strong winds have formed hard, supportable slabs which can easily fool you into thinking it’s strong and safe and herein lays the problem. Hard slabs are tricky because they lure you well out onto the slope before they fail, often times breaking above you. Most of our avalanche problems will be at the upper elevations today and slides triggered in areas with a shallow snowpack, such as steep rocky slopes, have the potential to break into older buried weak layers, producing a very dangerous avalanche.

Due to the strong winds, be aware that slabs have formed in unusual places such as lower down on the slope than you might think. In addition the usual suspects- the leeward side of ridges, chutes, sub-ridges and gullies should be approached with caution. If you’re looking to stay out of avalanche danger today, stick with low angle slopes in wind sheltered terrain. Like always though, be aware of steep slopes above and adjacent to what you’re riding on.

Bottom Line:

At upper elevations, at and above tree-line, the avalanche danger CONSIDERABLE today on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. A CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are probable, natural avalanche possible.

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

Mountain Weather:

A strong storm system will affect the region today and tonight. A disturbance moving through the area will enhance snowfall this morning and I’m thinking we should see 3”-6” of snow before a midday break. An additional foot of snow should fall overnight as the coldest part of the storm arrives. Today look for cloudy skies, strong winds, mild temperatures and a rising snow line. Highs at 8,000’ will be in the mid to upper 30’s and at 10,000’ near 30 degrees. Overnight lows will dip into the low 20’s. Winds are going to be vicious, out of the southwest, blowing 20-40 mph with gusts in the 70’s along the highest peaks. Snow showers will continue Sunday morning, and then taper off during the day before the next very strong system impacts the area early Monday. This storm is the last in the series and will be colder and could turn into a blockbuster.

General Information:

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.

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

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.

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am on Sunday January 1, 2006.

Thanks for calling!