Wasatch Cache and Uinta
National Forests
In partnership with:
Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the
.
Avalanche information update
wednesday
november 15, 2006
This is Craig Gordon with the
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to
Current Conditions:
Wow… what a storm! The western Uinta Mountains got clobbered Monday night with 12”-14” of new snow down at the trailhead elevations and about 18” above 9,000’. This latest shot of snow doubled our existing snowpack, increasing total snow depths at the upper elevations to nearly 3’. Riding and skiing conditions have vastly improved, but plenty of obstacles still lurk just underneath the new coat o’ white. In addition, the upside down or inverted snow makes for some challenging conditions. Overnight, skies cleared and currently along the ridges winds are out of the northwest at 10-20 mph with temperatures in the low teens.
Avalanche Conditions:
A series of storms the last few weeks of fall created a shallow snowpack on upper elevation shady slopes. This snow changed and weakened over time and resembles sugar in its consistency and strength. Saturday night’s fast moving system blew into town and strong winds formed sensitive wind slabs on slopes facing the north half of the compass. On Sunday, folks reported cracking within the new snow and lots of whoomphing noises, but no avalanche activity. As you might’ve guessed… there just wasn’t enough weight yet. However, Monday’s storm was an entirely different animal and the snowpack got walloped with damp, heavy snow and strong winds. Along the ridges winds howled into the 70’s and 80’s with a gust or two near 100 mph. Both Ted and I got out and about on Tuesday and watched the winds transporting snow at an alarming rate, forming dangerous slabs in unusual locations. Be aware that wind drifts have formed not only on the lee side of ridges, but also much lower down slope than you might expect.
I know we’re all chomping at the bit to get after it, but right now the snowpack needs some time to adjust and heal. It may be more difficult to trigger an avalanche today, but the slide you trigger has the potential to be large and dangerous, running on weak snow near the ground.
Remember- early season avalanche accidents and close
calls occur each year. As a matter of fact, in the past two days several close
calls have taken place in the
Bottom Line:
At and above tree-line, the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on all slopes steeper
than about 35 degrees facing the north half of the compass especially those
with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. A CONSIDERABLE
avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are probable, natural
avalanches possible.
At mid and lower elevations and on slopes which
didn’t have any pre-existing snow prior to last weekend’s storm the avalanche
danger is generally LOW.
Mountain Weather:
It should be a beautiful day in the mountains with
sunny, warm and dry weather on tap for most of the day. Highs at 8,000’ will be
near 40 degrees and at 10,000’ in the upper 20’s. Overnight lows dip into the
low 30’s under partly cloudy skies. Winds should be out of the west-northwest
blowing less than 20 mph along the ridges. A series of weak systems slides
through the region Thursday through Saturday before high pressure takes control
for the latter half of the weekend into early next week.
Announcements:
Free avalanche awareness classes are available. Give
me a call at 801-231-2170 or email [email protected]
and get one scheduled before the season gets too crazy!
If any terms confuse you, take a look at our new avalanche encyclopedia.
For avalanche photos click here.
General
Information:
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.
I will update
this information as conditions warrant.
This advisory is
also available by calling 1-800-648-7433.
.