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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holiday Avalanche advisory

mondAY february 20, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am wednesday february 22, 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 February 20, 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:

Skies are mostly cloudy and another cold blast of air slid into the region overnight. Currently at 11,000’ it’s -3 degrees with winds out of the northwest, blowing 10-15 mph, making it feel more like a fuel-gelling -18 degrees! At 8,000’ temperatures are a tolerable 2 degrees and winds are light and variable. Storms totals are stacking up nicely since late Friday, nearing a foot in most upper elevation locations. It looks like the Daniels area received the lion’s share of the recent storms and on the southern half of the range storm totals are closer to 16”. The riding and turning conditions continue to get better with each new shot of snow and yesterday I found deep, cold light powder on sheltered shady slopes.

Avalanche Conditions:

The avalanche danger hasn’t changed too much in the past few days, even though the new snow is starting to pile up. The good news is, our storms are adding a little bit of snow at a time and without much wind, the snowpack can adjust to the added weight and doesn’t get too cranky. There are a few old wind drifts from Saturday’s winds, but even they seem to be relatively well behaved. The only drifts I found yesterday were along the highest ridges facing the north half of the compass. These slabs were pockety and only about 60’ wide and 10”-16” deep. In areas that received more snow and wind, especially on the southern half of the range, wind drifts may be a little more widespread and could be deeper. In either case, I think you could trigger a big enough pocket to knock you off your feet or machine or take you for an unexpected ride. I’d still be suspicious of and avoid any rounded, fat looking pillows on steep slopes, especially on the leeward side of upper elevation ridges and peaks. If you’re getting into steep, upper elevation terrain today think about the consequences of triggering a slide and try to get as much information as you can about the slope you’re riding on. A good practice is to tweak small test slopes with little consequence which are similar in aspect, elevation and slope angle to what you want to ride on. See how they’re reacting to your added weight before deciding to center punch a bold line. Today’s avalanche danger is mostly confined to the upper elevations. 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:

A cold, moist westerly flow will keep light snow showers going in the mountains today, though accumulations only look to be in the 1”-2” range. Winds will be out of the west, blowing 10-20 mph along the highest ridges. Highs today at 8,000’ should reach into the upper teens and at 10,000’ they’ll be near 12 degrees. Under partly cloudy skies, overnight lows should bottom out at zero degrees. Brief high pressure builds for Tuesday and skies should be clear for the morning with increasing clouds and snow developing by about dinner time. A northwest flow keeps temperatures cold with on and off snow showers going into Thursday. High pressure and a drying trend are on tap for the upcoming weekend.

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 February 22, 2006.

Thanks for calling!