Wasatch Cache and Uinta National Forests

In partnership with: Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center, The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center and Utah State Parks.

Avalanche ADVISORY

WEDNESday DECEMber 8,2004

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, December 8, 2004 and it’s 7:30 a.m.

Announcements:

We have installed a weather station in the Moffit Peak area. Click here to see temperatures and wind data.

Many thanks go out to the Utah Snowmobile Association and BRORA for their generous contributions.

Current conditions:

Skies have cleared and winds have become more manageable in the past few hours. Currently along the ridges winds are blowing out of the west at speeds of 10-20 mph. Temperatures are in the mid teens. Snow totals for the past 24 hours are location and elevation dependent. Trial Lake seems to be the big winner from this storm with about a foot of new snow. We’re seeing a little break in between storms at the moment, but it looks like moisture is already moving into Elko. I’d expect snow to develop by early afternoon and there’s a winter storm warning in effect for the western Uinta Mountains.

Avalanche Conditions:

It’s been a wild ride in the mountains for the past 24 hours and the big news is the hurricane strength winds. Yesterday, strong winds blew out of the west and southwest for most of the day and into the early evening. Average wind speeds were in the 20’s and gusts were nuking into the low 40’s along the ridges. The winds were almost strong enough to knock a cow off their feet, so you know a lot of snow has been moved around. Today I’d anticipate some unusual avalanche conditions. Typically, we expect wind drifts or slabs to be along the ridges. However, with strong winds remember, they would have formed much lower down the slope than you might expect so be suspicious of mid-slope loading. Terrain features such as chutes, gullies, and mid slope break-overs would be prime suspects. It’s going to be tricky out there today because the slab is dense and hard and it will allow you to get well out onto the slope before it fails. You’ll want to carefully evaluate each slope and approach steep slopes with caution.

Finally, the next round of snow will be denser, temperatures will be rising, and we’re expecting strong winds to accompany this storm. So you’ll want to be alert to changing weather conditions and the possibility of a rising avalanche danger.

Bottom Line:

The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE today on all steep slopes with recent deposits of wind drifted snow. Human triggered avalanches are probable and natural avalanches are possible.

Be aware, the avalanche danger may rise to HIGH by days end.

On low angle slopes that are wind protected the avalanche danger is generally LOW. If you’re playing on low angle terrain be aware of steep slopes above you and avoid avalanche runout zones.

Mountain Weather:

A strong storm system is headed our way and we will start to see snow develop later in the day. We should see 3”-6” today and an additional 6”-10” is expected tonight. Temperatures will be rising with this next storm and highs at 8,000’ will be near 30 degrees and at 10,000’ in the low 20’s. Overnight lows will be in the mid 20’s.

Once again the big message is going to be the winds. By this evening westerly winds will be cranking again and we should see gusts in the 40’s and 50’s that will linger into Thursday. Scattered snow showers are expected Thursday and high-pressure returns for the weekend.

General Information:

We’re interested in what you’re seeing especially if you observe or trigger an avalanche. Call 1-800-662-4140, or 801-231-2170, or email to [email protected] or fax to 801-524-6301 and fill us in with all the details.

If you’d like to schedule a free snowmobile specific avalanche talk and or a field day, please call 801-231-2170.

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 advisory by 7:30 a.m. on Saturday Dec.11, 2004.

Thanks for calling!