Wasatch Cache and Uinta National Forest

In partnership with: Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah State Parks,Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the Utah Snowmobile Association, the National Weather Service, BRORA, and Backcountry Access.

holiday Avalanche advisory

mondAY january 16, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am wednesday january 18, 2006.

Good morning! This is Craig Gordon with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your holiday avalanche and mountain weather advisory for the western Uinta Mountains. Today is Monday, January 16, 2006 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:

“Beacon Basin” is good to go and ready to use at the Noblett’s Trailhead. While you’re waiting for your partners 
to gear up, swing by and test your avalanche beacon skills. It’s free and easily accessible from the parking lot. A big thanks 
goes out to members of the Utah Snowmobile Association for assisting in the installation and to Backcountry Access for 
providing all the gear. 
 
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 the Utah Avalanche Center’s western Uinta avalanche forecasting 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:

The storm finally kicked into gear yesterday afternoon and when it arrived snowfall rates were close to 3” an hour. The North Slope received the lion’s share of this storm, with nearly a foot of snow in the past 24 hours. The further south you go snowfall totals aren’t quite as impressive. Around Mirror Lake you’ll find 8” of new snow and the Daniel’s area got about 4”. Densities are rather light, in the 5% range, so expect cold smoke to be blowing over the hood this morning. Since late Saturday afternoon, temperatures have fallen faster than a bad stock option. Currently at 8,000’ it’s near 6 degrees and at 11,000’ it’s a finger numbing -2 degrees. Couple those temperatures with northerly winds blowing 10-15 mph and you’ve got a wind chill of -20 degrees. An intoxicating mix of clearing skies and new snow should make for an epic day of riding or sliding.

Avalanche Conditions:

Avalanche conditions changed rapidly late yesterday afternoon, and I was finding very sensitive soft slabs on leeward facing slopes at upper elevations. These types of avalanches are pretty predictable, breaking around your feet or machine, rather than up above you. Yesterday’s wind drifts were about 1’-2‘ deep and easy to see. However, today they’re covered over with a few inches of ultra-light fluff, making them a bit harder to detect. While I think things would’ve become a little less sensitive overnight, these wind drifts will still be reactive to the additional weight of a rider today. Also be aware, winds are forecast to pick up this morning for a few hours and I’d suspect a new batch of wind drifts will form rapidly, becoming more widespread and sensitive during this time frame, so be alert to changing weather and avalanche conditions. Before center-punching your favorite steep line today, test smaller slopes with little consequence which are similar in aspect, elevation and slope angle and see how they’re reacting to your additional weight. There’s a variety of hard, slick crusts out there for avalanches to run on, and today’s avalanches may pack a stronger punch than you might expect. On steep wind protected slopes, good sluff management skills will come in handy today. While most of today’s sluffs will be manageable in size, they may entrain quite a bit of snow as they descend the slope. Take care that one doesn’t knock you off your skis or machine, carrying you over a cliff or burying you deep in a gully.

Bottom Line:

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

In areas which received a foot or more of new snow, there are pockets of CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger on steep, upper elevation wind loaded slopes. Remember- a CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are probable.

In wind sheltered terrain on slopes less than 35 degrees, the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

Mountain Weather:

Skies should be clearing throughout the day, though there is still a chance for a few snow showers as the storm exits the state. It will be much colder today with highs at 8,000’ in the mid teens and at 10,000’ near 10 degrees. Overnight lows will be in the mid single digits. Northerly winds will be blowing in the 15-25 mph range with stronger gusts expected along the highest ridges, but should be relaxing as the day wears on. A warm front pushes into the region on Tuesday bringing clouds and scattered snow showers along with much warmer temperatures. Highs on Tuesday will be near 30 degrees at 8,000’. The next Pacific system drops over northern Utah Tuesday night and Wednesday. This could bring significant snowfall to our area Wednesday night. The flow becomes northwest later Wednesday night through Thursday as an upper trough deepens over Utah. It looks like we dry out on Friday and there may be another storm lined up for next weekend. We’ll keep you posted on this one.

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.

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 Wednesday January 18, 2006.

Thanks for calling!