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 april 2, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am wednesday april 5, 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 April 2, 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:

Skies cleared out late last night in the wake of yesterday’s storm which deposited nearly 8” of new snow above about 9,000’ throughout the range. Winds are out of the northwest, blowing 10-20 mph along the ridges. Temperatures are a January-like 10 degrees at 11,000’ and in the mid teens at the trailheads. As the parade of storms continues to march into the mountains the conditions are about as good as they get for this time of year. Yesterday’s shot of new snow will help to cushion some of the old hard crusts out there and deepen the powder riding and turning on the sheltered shady slopes. You’d better get after it early today before all this nice, light powder turns to glop.

Avalanche Conditions:

April showers bring… spring powder of course! The latest in the series of storms produced some shallow soft slabs that were pretty sensitive to the additional weight of a backcountry enthusiast yesterday and it was easy to trigger small avalanches up to a foot deep, especially on leeward, wind loaded slopes at the upper elevations. All of the avalanche activity was confined to the new snow and the slides were predictably breaking at your ski tips or around your machine. I’d suspect that overnight most instabilities would have healed, but there still may be a pocket or two out there, particularly near upper elevation ridgelines, where you could still trigger a dry snow avalanche today. The most likely place to still find a sensitive wind drift will be on slopes facing the north half of the compass, but also be aware of cross-loaded terrain features like chutes and gullies. Even though these wind slabs are mostly shallow and easy to manage, think about the consequences of triggering a slide.

In addition to dry snow avalanches, today’s strong sunshine and rising temperatures will turn the new snow into damp, mank in a heartbeat, especially during the heat of the day. You know the routine this time of year- as things heat up, get off of and out from under steep sun exposed slopes. In addition, avoid terrain traps such as steep road cuts and gullies where avalanche debris can pile up deeply.

Bottom Line:

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

The danger of wet slides and sluffs will increase to MODERATE on all steep sun exposed slopes with daytime heating.

Mountain Weather:

Today we can expect partly cloudy skies, light winds and slightly warmer temperatures as high pressure builds over the region. Highs at 8,000’ will be in the mid to upper 30’s and at 10,000’ near 30 degrees. Overnight lows dip into the upper teens. Light morning winds will start shifting to the west and then southwest later in the day and should become strong along the ridgelines after midnight. For Monday, gusty southwest winds, warm temperatures and increasing clouds usher the leading edge of the next system into the state. Low elevation rain and mid to upper elevation snow should make its way to our area by late afternoon Tuesday and intensify with colder air arriving Tuesday night. It looks like another good system with winter-like conditions for Wednesday and Thursday and a foot of new snow should be a pretty good bet. We remain unsettled for the second half of the week with more storms on the way through next weekend.

Announcements:

 
If any terms confuse you, take a look at our new avalanche encyclopedia.
 
“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 Wednesday April 5, 2006.

Thanks for calling!