Wasatch Cache and Uinta National Forests

In partnership with: Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center, Utah State Parks, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center,

Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the Utah Snowmobile Association, the National Weather Service, BRORA, and Backcountry Access.

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Avalanche advisory

saturdAY february 25, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am sunday february 26, 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 February 25, 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 clear this morning and temperatures are in the mid teens at both mountain top and trailhead elevations. Winds are generally out of the northwest, blowing 15-25 mph along the highest ridges. Riding and turning conditions remain surprisingly good even though we haven’t seen any new snow for several days. On sunny slopes there’s a mostly supportable corn-like crust, which will soften quite nicely in the morning hours. Up high the winds have been battering the snow around for several days and there’s too much wind damage to make peak bagging a fun venture. If you’re looking for the goods, you can still find soft, cold settled powder on shady, sheltered mid elevation slopes.

Avalanche Conditions:

Spring has sprung in earnest and it’s a tale of two snowpacks out there today and two different types of avalanche problems to be aware of. First off, up high above about 10,000’ the winds have been blowing on and off for a number of days and they’re still finding snow to blow around and form fresh wind drifts. The drifts are pockety, up to 18” deep and confined to the leeward side of the highest ridges. While not a widespread problem, they are deep enough to take you for a ride and slam you into a group of trees or bury you in a gully. If you’re getting into steep, radical upper elevation terrain today carefully assess the slope you’re planning to ride on and think about the consequences of triggering a slide. The second avalanche problem will be the increasing danger of wet avalanche activity. The sun is high in sky and not only is it baking the south facing slopes; it’s also starting to penetrate into mid and low elevation north facing aspects as well. To avoid the possibility of triggering or getting caught in one of these cement mixer-like slides, simply get off of and out from under steep sun exposed slopes during the heat of the day.

Bottom Line:

At low and mid elevations the snowpack is mostly stable this morning and the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

In upper elevation terrain near and above tree-line, there are pockets of MODERATE avalanche danger 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.

Finally, at all elevations the danger of wet avalanche activity will increase to MODERATE with daytime heating on steep, sun-exposed slopes.

Mountain Weather:

A warm and dry southwest flow will develop over the area through Sunday giving us mostly sunny skies, warm temperatures and moderate southwest winds. Today’s highs at 10,000’ will be in the upper 20’s and at 8,000’ close to 40 degrees. Overnight lows should dip into the mid 20’s. Winds will become southwesterly, blowing 15-25 mph along the upper elevation ridges. Sunday should be a carbon copy of today, and then a change in the weather could be in store starting around Monday. Southwest winds will become strong and clouds should thicken with snow developing late Monday or early Tuesday. A cold front is forecast to move through the region Tuesday giving us a quick burst of heavy snowfall late in the day into early Wednesday. I’ll have a better handle on the storm for tomorrow’s advisory.

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 Sunday February 26, 2006.

Thanks for calling!