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 12, 2006

This advisory expires 24 hours from the date and time posted, but will be updated by 7:30 am saturday april 15, 2006.  Sunday April 16th will be the last of my regularly scheduled advisories.

 

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 12, 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 weak weather disturbance moving through the area is producing partly cloudy skies, mild temperatures and fairly strong upper elevation winds. Overnight, the snowpack marginally refroze and currently temperatures are in the low to mid 30’s at 8,000’ and it’s 25 degrees at 11,000’. Winds are out of the south and southwest blowing 15-30 mph with an occasional gust in the low 40’s. Monday’s little storm produced about 4” of new snow for the upper elevations, helping to smooth out some of the old, hard tracks and ruts. The riding and sliding conditions are actually pretty good and I found damp settled powder on upper elevation north facing slopes yesterday. Down low it’s getting wet, gloppy and punchy and a good exit strategy after a long day will help alleviate some afternoon headaches.

 

Avalanche Conditions:

Last nights marginal refreeze, especially at the mid and lower elevations has me concerned that today’s wet avalanche activity may be a bit more widespread than in recent days. The upper layers of the snowpack have become damp and uncohesive and today’s main avalanche concern will be wet loose snow sluffs and possibly deeper wet slabs on steep lower elevation slopes. On Sunday, a snowmobiler was able to trigger a good sized hard slab that ran on weak snow near the ground on a steep, rocky, southeast facing slope at about 6,500’ in elevation. It’ll be a balancing act today between temperatures, clouds, sun and wind and this may help the snowpack to remain well behaved for a good portion of the day. However, the best rule of thumb this time of year is to get on the snow early in the day and get off of and out from under steep sun-exposed slopes during daytime heating. In addition, if the snow you’re riding on gets too manky and wet, simply switch to a slope that isn’t receiving as much direct sunshine or call it a day to avoid triggering a nasty wet slide. Also, think about steering clear of terrain traps such as gullies and steep road cuts on your afternoon trip back to the parking lot. 

Finally, cornices have grown large and sensitive, forming in some unusual places and breaking further back than you’d think.

 

Bottom Line:

At all elevations the danger of wet, loose slides is MODERATE this morning and depending on cloud cover and winds, the danger may rise to CONSIDERABLE, especially on steep mid and lower elevation slopes with daytime heating. A CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are probable, natural avalanche possible.

 

Mountain Weather: 

This morning we can expect mostly cloudy skies, light snow showers and strong southerly winds along the ridges. High temperatures at 8,000’ will be in the mid 40’s and at 10,000’ in the upper 30’s. Overnight lows under clear skies should be near 30 degrees. South and southwest winds will be a nuisance this morning, and then clam down for the afternoon before getting strong again tonight. Hourly averages in the 15-25 mph range and gusts in the 40’s along the high ridges will be common. High pressure builds for Thursday and early Friday giving us mostly sunny skies and mild temperatures. Winds increase later Friday as the next storm system affects the area. A good shot of snow at the upper elevations is expected late Friday night into Saturday morning. Partly cloudy and warm for Saturday and Sunday, with yet another energetic storm slated to arrive Monday afternoon.  

 

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 15, 2006.

Thanks for calling!