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

sunDAY february 25, 2007

The information in this advisory expires 24 hours after the date and time it’s issued, but will be updated Wednesday February 28, 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 Sunday, February 25, 2007 and it’s about 7:00 am. Regularly scheduled 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:

The first in a series of storms moved in over the region late yesterday afternoon, spreading clouds and a flurry or two. Today we should see a better chance for snow developing as the day wares on. West and southwesterly winds increased around 3:00 this morning and are averaging 25 mph with gusts in the low 30’s along the ridges. Current temperatures are in the low to mid teens at 10,000’ and at the trailhead elevations. Friday’s storm totals are close to 14” on the North Slope with half that amount from Trial Lake southward. Riding and turning conditions are about the best they’ve been all year, though yesterday’s strong sunshine crusted many low and mid elevation sun-exposed slopes.

 

Avalanche Conditions:

I’m psyched to say that no avalanche accidents occurred in the western Uinta’s yesterday and I know it took a lot of restraint not to dive into steep terrain, especially with fresh snow and abundant sunshine. While things are settling down since last weeks natural avalanche cycle, the basic fact remains we have a buried weak layer in the mid portion of our snowpack and it’ll come back to haunt us each time it’s tickled. We’re nudging into a critical time in the snow’s stability and one that often lulls people into a false sense of security. As the snow gains strength it will become harder to trigger avalanches, but the ones you do trigger may be large and deadly. Remember- a hard dense slab overlaying persistent buried weak layers like the sugary facets formed during the January dry spell is a notoriously tricky and dangerous combination. The slab will feel strong and solid underneath all the fluffy new snow, allowing a rider to get well out onto the slope before it avalanches. The snowpack doesn’t know we’ve been powder starved this winter and the best bet to avoid triggering a monster slide is to tone your slope angles down and stay off of and out from under steep slopes for awhile. In addition, today’s winds won’t help matters much and shallow avalanches initiated in the new wind drifts have the possibility of breaking into deeper buried weak layers as they cascade down the slope. Finally, cornices have grown and are breaking back further than you might expect.

 

Bottom Line:

At upper elevations the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on all slopes steeper than about 35 degrees, especially those facing the north half of the compass with both old and recent deposits of wind drifted snow. A CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger means human triggered avalanches are probable, natural avalanches possible.

At mid elevations the avalanche danger is MODERATE on northerly facing slopes steeper than about 35 degrees with both old and recent wind drifts and human triggered avalanches are possible.

 

Mountain Weather:

An increasingly moist westerly flow will move over the region this morning and snow will develop in the next couple of hours. Snow should persist throughout the day with accumulations in the 6”-10” range, before tapering off late this evening. As the storm noses into the area, winds will become stronger, blowing out of the west-southwest gusting to 40 mph along the ridges. Temperatures will remain cool today with highs at 8,000’ in the mid 20’s and at 10,000’ in the upper teens. Overnight lows will be near 15 degrees. Monday should be mostly cloudy and warmer with a chance of a scattered snow shower or two. High pressure builds for late Monday and Tuesday, then a cold unsettled pattern develops late Tuesday through Friday. I’ll have a better handle on timing and strength of these systems on Wednesday’s mid week update.

 

Announcements:

I completed a preliminary investigation on the avalanche accident that occurred on Saturday Feb.17th in Buck Basin and it can be found here. Also there have been a number of close calls and unintentionally human triggered avalanches across the state in the past few days and pictures with descriptions of the events can be found here.

 

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 the 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 Wednesday February 28, 2007.

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

1-888-999-4019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .