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

sundAY february 26, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am wednesday march 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 Sunday February 26, 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 have remained mostly clear overnight and currently temperatures are in the low 20’s at both 11,000’ and at 8,000’. Southwest winds are just starting to pick up, blowing 15-25 mph along the highest ridges. It should be another beautiful day in the mountains where the riding and sliding conditions remain quite good, especially on shady wind sheltered slopes. For those of you looking for a little adventure, I think you may be able to find some supportable corn-like crusts on sunny slopes at mid and lower elevations, but you’ll have to harvest those fairly early in the day before the snow turns into wet, breakable mank. If you’re looking to bag a high elevation peak, be aware winds have hammered the snow in upper elevation wind-exposed terrain and the descent may not be worth all the effort to get there.

Avalanche Conditions:

It was a stunning day in the mountains yesterday and the “reset button” got hit overnight so today should be a carbon copy. Observations from the North Slope and other outlying areas indicate a mostly stable snowpack and folks are getting after it, punching out bold lines in big terrain without incident. While this is good news, I think there’s probably a tired old wind slab or two out there which may still be reactive to the additional weight of a rider today. If you’re starting to nose into steeper, more radical terrain, be aware of pockety old wind drifts on the leeward side of ridges and terrain features above about 10,000’. While not a widespread problem, they may still be deep enough to take you for a ride and slam you into a group of trees or bury you in a gully. 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 approaching about 40 degrees in steepness which have 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 strong and warm southwest flow will develop over the area today through Monday ahead of an approaching pacific storm system.

We should see mostly sunny skies for a good portion of the day with highs reaching into the low 30’s at 10,000’ and near 41 degrees at 8,000’. Overnight lows will be in the mid 20’s. Increasing clouds and gusty southwest winds, blowing 20-30 mph, develop late in the day. High clouds and warmer temperatures are on tap for Monday, then moisture increases Monday night and early Tuesday bringing rain and snow showers with snow levels near 8000 feet. A cold front will move across the area late Tuesday ushering in colder air and a burst of snowfall with accumulations in the 3”-6” range possible. A break on Wednesday with additional storm systems expected to affect the area late in the week.

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 March 1, 2006.

Thanks for calling!