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.

  

 

 

Avalanche ADVISORY

wednesDAY february 14, 2007

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated on Saturday February 17, 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 14, 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 Utah State Parks and Recreation.

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. 

 

 

Current Conditions:

A cold northerly flow brought 3”of new snow overnight to the upper elevation terrain surrounding the north half of the range and half that amount fell south of Trial Lake. Along the upper elevation ridges winds are out of the east-northeast blowing 15-25 mph. Temperatures are near 10 degrees at 10,000’ and in the mid to upper teens at the trailhead elevations. The riding and turning conditions have vastly improved since last weekend’s storm, but with a snowpack averaging 60% of normal, much of the big upper elevation terrain is still awfully thin.   

 

Avalanche Conditions:

The weekend storm pounded the north half of the range from Trial Lake to Chalk Creek with 12”-18” of dense new snow and raging winds. The southern portion of the range received about half that amount, but the winds still nuked and the weak, shallow snowpack produced a number of natural avalanches on steep northerly facing slopes. I’ve been looking at the recent widespread avalanche activity the past two days and still experiencing loud whoomphing noises and shooting cracks even on slopes that have had lots of previous traffic. The culprit behind all the instability is the weak sugary facets that developed during the January dry spell. This persistent weak layer is notoriously tricky and much of the steep terrain that didn’t avalanche naturally now rests in a tenuous balance, waiting for a rider to come along and give it an extra thump.

In steep upper elevation terrain especially in areas which received more snow, it’s still possible to trigger dangerous hard slab avalanches. These slides have the possibility of breaking into deeper buried weak layers, producing a large and quite possibly unsurvivable avalanche. To add another fly in the ointment, I think it’s still possible to remotely trigger avalanches from a distance or have them break while you’re midslope. Mid and upper elevation rocky terrain with steep mid slope break-overs should still be approached with caution.

 

Bottom Line:

At and above tree line the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE today on all slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those facing the north half of the compass with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. A CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are probable.

At mid elevations the avalanche danger is MODERATE on recently wind loaded slopes and human triggered avalanches are possible.

 

Mountain Weather:

A northerly flow is over the area and we should see partly cloudy skies and a scattered snow shower or two. Temperatures will remain cold with highs at 10.000’ in the upper teens and at 8,000’ near 25 degrees. Overnight lows will be near 10 degrees. Winds will be out of the northwest, blowing 15-25 mph today and are forecast to increase Thursday and Friday gusting into the 40’s and 50’s along the upper elevation ridges. We should see a chance of snow showers Thursday and Friday with continued cold temperatures. High pressure builds for the weekend giving us sunny skies, light winds and a slight warming trend.   

 

Announcements:

We finally got the Windy Peak weather station up and running. Click here for current conditions.

 

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 17,2007.

This advisory is also available by calling 1-800-648-7433 or

1-888-999-4019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .