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

wednesdAY april 5, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am saturday april 8, 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 Wednesday April 5, 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:

Another strong winter-like system is bearing down on the state, but until the cold front arrives this afternoon we’ll be experiencing Seattle’s best… and I’m not talkin’ coffee. Warm, wet and windy conditions are expected for most of the day. It’s downright balmy out there this morning with current 8,000’ temperatures in the upper 30’s and even at 11,000’ it’s barely freezing. Winds have been blowing out of the south and southwest for the past 24 hours and really started to gain intensity early this morning with hourly averages in the 30’s and gusts in the 50’s and 60’s. Riding and turning conditions will be difficult to say the least. I’d expect a very marginal overnight refreeze will make for some barely supportable crusts up high and down at mid and lower elevations it’ll be bottomless glop. It might be a good day to get the taxes done.

Avalanche Conditions:

The days of cold dry powder are just about history and last night’s combination of cloud cover and warm temperatures are going to conspire to make the avalanche conditions a bit unusual today. The snow surface is damp and this morning I think it will be fairly easy to trigger shallow wet avalanches on most steep slopes, especially in mid and lower elevation terrain. While slow moving, remember- wet slides and sluffs can stack up deep piles of avalanche debris particularly when they dump this cement-like mixture into terrain traps like gullies or road cuts. If we should get much rain prior to the heart of the storm arriving, be aware that avalanches have the possibility of gouging into weaker, more saturated layers in the snowpack, creating a bigger slide than you might expect.

Up high above about 10,000’ it’s a different snowpack and there’s still cold snow available for transport. Due to the strong winds be aware of unusual loading patterns and look for drifting well down off of ridgelines and around terrain features such as chutes, gullies and sub-ridges. On any aspect other than due north, you’ll find a variety of supportable crusts that will act as a good bed surface for avalanches to run on as the new snow starts to stack up. If you’re going out on a dusk patrol ride, be aware of both old and newly formed wind drifts and consider they may run a little father and faster on these crusts.

Finally, cornices have grown large and are sensitive, breaking further back than you’d think. Unfortunately, this led to a recent avalanche fatality in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Monday afternoon. I’d give these unpredictable monsters plenty of respect and steer of them. (Click here for an accident report and photos)

Bottom Line:

At low and mid elevations the danger of wet avalanches is MODERATE today on all slopes steeper than about 35 degrees. A MODERATE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are possible.

At upper elevations near and above tree-line the danger of dry snow avalanches is MODERATE today on slopes steeper than 35 degrees, especially those with recent deposits of wind drifted snow.

Mountain Weather:

A winter storm warning is in effect for the area and we should see the storm really kick in late this afternoon with the arrival of colder air. Two day storm totals should be close to a foot. This morning though, look for scattered snow showers above about 9,000’ with accumulations in the 1”- 4” range. Southwest winds will continue to be an issue blowing 25-35 mph along the ridges with gusts in the 50’s and 60’s. Winds should switch to the west late this afternoon as colder air moves in and lightening is a possibility. Daytime high temperatures will be in the mid 40’s at 8,000’ and near 36 degrees at 10,000’. Overnight lows dive into the mid 20’s. The storm gets going tonight and by morning we can expect an additional 8” of new snow. Snow showers continue on Thursday with colder temperatures and westerly winds blowing 25-35 mph along the ridges. Friday and Saturday should be partly cloudy and warmer with highs in the 40’s. Unsettled weather is expected for the last half of the 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 Saturday April 8, 2006.

Thanks for calling!