In partnership with:
Tri-City Performance, Polaris, the
The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after
the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated on Saturday February 3,
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
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 801-231-2170, or email at [email protected] and fill me in with all the details.
There will be a Fundraising
Dinner on Friday, February 2, 2007. The dinner will be at The Canyons and
Olympic Gold Medal Winner Jim Shea will be the keynote speaker. All proceeds go
to support the Know Before You Go avalanche awareness
program for young adults. For tickets and information visit www.UtahAvalancheCenter.com or
call 801-365-5522. Also, the Canyons will be offering avalanche classes
on Saturday and Sunday, February 3rd and 4th. For
more information and to register, call 435-615-3325.
Current Conditions:
A cold shot of air along
with a bit of moisture slid into the region early this morning, dropping
temperatures and a light dusting of snow. By most standards accumulations are
meager, but this year we’ll take what we can. Chalk Creek looks like the winner
so far with about 3” of new snow. The further south you move in the range snow
totals are closer to an inch. Temperatures are in the upper teens at 10,000’
and in the low 20’s at 8,000’. Winds increased late last night as the front
passed by blowing out of the north and northwest at speeds of 25-35 mph along
the highest ridges. They’ve backed off this morning and are in the 10-20 mph
range with an occasional gust in the mid 20’s at the most exposed locations. There
are still areas which offer soft settled powder-like conditions and protected
mid elevation, low angle slopes seem to be the ticket.
Avalanche Conditions:
Last night’s
dusting of new snow isn’t going to change the avalanche danger much, but the strong
winds that developed overnight may have found enough snow to blow around and
form a few shallow soft slabs on leeward terrain at the upper elevations. These
predictable new wind drifts will be soft and manageable, breaking around or
below a person and should be easy to detect. In addition, you may be able to
initiate a sluff or two on steep shady slopes where the old surface snow has
grown very weak.
In the bigger
scheme of things, the snowpack continues to grow weaker with time, especially
in terrain where the pack is less than about two feet or so. Overshadowing the
avalanche danger right now is the possibility of slamming into a buried stump
or rock.
Bottom Line:
On most slopes throughout the range the avalanche
danger is generally LOW
today and human triggered avalanches are unlikely.
Mountain Weather:
A
storm system will push through the area this morning, bringing snow and colder
temperatures to the region. Light snow is expected this morning with another 1”-3”
possible, before tapering off to scattered snow showers by
Winds will be out of the north blowing 10-20 mph
with gusts in the low 30’s along the highest ridges. High pressure briefly builds
across the region tonight, before another storm system impacts the area
Thursday into Thursday night. This system will bring a re-enforcing shot of
cold air. High pressure along with a warming trend is expected for the weekend.
Announcements:
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
This advisory is
also available by calling 1-800-648-7433 or
1-888-999-4019.
.