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 march 11, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am sunday march 12, 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 March 10, 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.

Current Conditions:

A broad, cold trough over the western US will keep the region in an unsettled winter like weather pattern through the weekend. Light snow showers began falling around 3:00 this morning and so far about an inch of new snow has accumulated. It’s a cold one out there with temperatures hovering around 10 degrees at 8,000’ and up around the high peaks at 11,000’ it’s -2 degrees. Winds picked up around midnight, blowing out of the south at speeds of 15-30 mph along the upper elevation ridges. The riding and turning conditions are about as good as they get this time of year and since Monday we’ve received close to 2’ of light cold smoke that’s sure to blow over the hood this morning.

Avalanche Conditions:

It’s been an amazing week of powder riding and the avalanche activity has been relatively limited. Yesterday I was finding the new snow to be well behaved and the only avalanches I was able to trigger were pockety, soft slabs about 1’ deep, on steep upper elevation northerly facing slopes. With the increase in winds overnight I think these slabs may be a little more widespread and deeper today. The goods news is the wind drifts will be mostly confined to leeward slopes facing the north half of the compass, at the highest elevations around the range. The bad news is today’s wind drifts may be a little stiffer and have the possibility of breaking above you, making them a bit less predictable. If your travels take you into steep upper elevation terrain today, evaluate each slope on an individual basis and carefully assess your terrain choices before diving into a slope just because it’s white. If you’re looking to remove the avalanche variable altogether, stick with wind sheltered terrain at mid elevations where you’ll be treated to deep, light non-wind effected snow.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger in upper elevation terrain near and above tree-line, is MODERATE today especially on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are possible.

In wind sheltered terrain the avalanche danger is generally LOW.

Mountain Weather:

With the main trough still over California, occasional weak impulses will shear off and drift through northern Utah giving us mostly cloudy skies, light snow showers and unseasonably cold temperatures. Today’s highs at 8,000’ will be in the upper teens and at 10,000’ near 10 degrees. Overnight lows drop into the single digits. Winds will be an issue up high where they’ll bow out of the south and southeast, 15-30 mph along the highest peaks and ridges. Sunday looks about the same and then the trough moves inland giving us a better shot of snow sometime early Monday.

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.

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 March 12, 2006.

Thanks for calling!