Wasatch
Cache and Uinta National Forests 
In partnership with:
Tri-City
Performance, Polaris, the
Avalanche ADVISORY
wednesDAY february 7, 2007
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after
the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated on Sunday February 10, 2007.
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,
February 7, 2007 and it’s about 7:00 in the morning. Avalanche advisories for
the western Uinta’s are available on Wednesday,
Saturday, Sunday and all holidays and are brought to you in partnership with
This
advisory covers the terrain from Daniels Summit, to
Tonight at 7:00
pm, I’ll be giving a free avalanche awareness talk designed specifically for
snowmobilers at Tri-City Performance in Springville.
Current Conditions:
High pressure remains in
place this morning, giving us quiet conditions on the western front. Even with
mostly clear skies, temperatures remained mild overnight. Currently it’s 30 degrees at 10,000’ and in the mid 20’s at the
trailhead elevations. Winds starting dying down around 3:00 this morning and
have been relatively light for the past few hours, blowing out of the west at
speeds of 10-15 mph along the high ridges. The riding and turning conditions
are a mixed bag at best, though you can still patches of soft settled powder on
wind sheltered, shady slopes.
Avalanche Conditions:
Yesterday, my
travels took me towards
It’s a tale of
two snowpacks today and there will be two different types
of avalanches to deal with. Up high along the ridges, there may be an old hard,
hollow sounding wind slab or two left over from recent strong wind events and
these may be sensitive to the weight of a person. The other avalanche problem
is one we usually see in the spring. On steep slopes the surface snow has
become damp and sticky and today you’ll need to be aware of the potential for small
wet avalanches. Because our snowpack is so weak, sluffs triggered today have the possibility of gouging
deeper into the snowpack as they descend the
slope, piling up huge amounts of debris.
You’ll want to avoid terrain traps such as gullies and road cuts as the
day heats up.
Looking into the
future… our incredibly fragile snowpack won’t take
much of a load before it fails and we experience a wide spread avalanche cycle.
The missing ingredient right now is a slab. It looks like the weather pattern
is changing and a moist, southwest flow develops later in the week. These types
of storms may not stack up a lot of snow, but the additional water weight and
wind could make the avalanche conditions very tricky. I’d expect the avalanche
danger to rise later in the week if the weather forecast holds true.
Bottom Line:
At upper elevations above tree-line the avalanche
danger is MODERATE
today on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with both old and new wind
drifts. A MODERATE
avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are possible.
At all elevations the danger of wet avalanches will
rise to MODERATE
on steep slopes with daytime heating.
Mountain Weather:
High
pressure aloft will weaken today as more unsettled weather approaches for the
next few days. Southwesterly winds will increase during the afternoon along with
thickening clouds. Highs today at 8,000’ will be in the mid to upper 40’s and
at 10,000’ near 40 degrees. Overnight lows will be in the upper 20’s. Light snow is possible Wednesday night into Thursday
with snow levels lowering to about 6500’, though little accumulation is
expected. A better shot of snow is expected Friday evening.
Announcements:
I’d like to thank Jim Shea,
The Canyons and Colleen Graham from the Friends of the UAC for all their hard
work in making last Friday night’s Know Before You Go
fundraiser such a success!
The first annual western Uinta fundraising ride was an
amazing success with nearly 150 people showing up for the ride alone!
I want to thank the Jim Shea
Family Foundation, Rocky Mountain Sledders, the
Wasatch Snowmobile Association and the Utah Snowmobile Association for all
their tireless work in putting the event together. Thanks again to Team
Thunderstruck and the Boondockers crew for helping
out and schooling even the most experienced riders. Also, we couldn’t have
pulled it off if it weren’t for Chad Booth who did an incredible job as both
master of ceremonies and auctioneer. Finally, it wouldn’t have been possible
without the support of everyone who attended… you folks are awesome!
I want to thank the crew at Tri-City Performance in
Springville along with Polaris and the Utah Snowmobile Association for
partnering with the avalanche center and stepping up to the plate by providing
a new sled for this season! Click
here, to
see the new
ride!
We installed Beacon Basin at the Noblett’s
Trailhead and it’s good to go. I want to thank Doug, Bill, Jared, Brad and
Wally who
unselfishly took time out of their powder day to
help out the riding community… you guys rock!
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’ll update this
advisory by 7:00 am on Saturday February 10,2007.
This advisory is
also available by calling 1-800-648-7433 or
1-888-999-4019.
.