Wasatch Cache and Uinta National Forests

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.

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Avalanche advisory

sundAY february 19, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am monday february 20, 2006 with a holiday forecast.

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 Sunday February 19, 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:

Light snow showers are still falling under a moist and cold southwest flow. It looks like we’ve picked up 4” of new snow in the past 24 hours, and an additional 4” or so are expected today. Once again you’ll want to put on an extra layer this morning because temperatures are near 3 degrees at the upper elevations and in the low teens down at the trailheads. Currently, winds are light and variable, blowing less than 15 mph along the ridges. The riding and sliding conditions are vastly improving with each new inch of snow, but this cold light smoke isn’t going to help cushion the old hard tracks. Yesterday I searched out some obscure terrain with very little old traffic underneath and found fantastic riding and turning. Mid elevation, wind protected terrain is still the hot ticket item.

Avalanche Conditions:

Yesterday’s southerly winds were a nuisance at the upper elevations and I noticed a fair amount of snow being blown around, forming new wind drifts on the leeward side of the high ridges. Fortunately, these new slabs were pretty manageable and only about 8”-10” deep. However, upper elevation winds picked up for a short time late last night forming a whole new batch of shallow wind slabs. Today’s main avalanche problem will again be in upper elevation terrain where you may still be able to trigger either an old or new wind drift. With some new snow overnight, the drifts may be a little harder to detect. I’d be suspicious of and avoid any rounded, fat looking pillows on steep slopes, especially on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges and peaks. With winds out of the south and southwest, the vast majority of these new wind slabs would’ve formed on slopes facing the north half of the compass. Once you’re out of the wind… it’s a non-issue.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is MODERATE today in upper elevation terrain at and above tree-line, on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with both old and new deposits of wind drifted snow. A MODERATE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanche are possible.

In wind sheltered terrain the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

Mountain Weather:

The atmosphere remains unstable for most of the day and we should see scattered snow showers this morning, with a better shot of snow later in the day through about sunset. Today’s snow totals should be in the 4”-8” range. High temperatures will barely get into the mid teens at 8,000’ and at 10,000’ we should see highs near 10 degrees. Overnight lows will hover near zero. Winds will be out of the southwest, blowing 15-25 mph along the highest ridges, but shouldn’t be much of an issue once you lose a little elevation. High pressure begins to build on Monday bringing a break to the stormy weather, though we should still see a scattered flurry or two. Temperatures will slowly warm throughout the week and skies will become partly cloudy.

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 Monday February 20, 2006.

Thanks for calling!