Introduction:
Good Morning! This is Evan
Stevens with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your avalanche and
mountain weather advisory. Today is
Christmas Day, December 25th, 2003 at 7:30 A.M
General Conditions:
You know it is quite a storm a brewing when every remote weather
station in the range is down.
Regardless, it is warm and windy out there today, and the holiday hasn’t
brought us any powder just yet, so you may have to wait until tomorrow to enjoy
those new snow related presents. I
expect some interesting snow surfaces out there today, but don’t forget that
the road has been groomed by Tag-a-Long Tour’s Snowcat, so maybe you should go
skate skiing. There is still about 27”
of snow at the trailhead and 36” of snow in Gold Basin.
Mountain Weather:
At least now the only warnings out there aren’t just for
terrorism. A winter storm warning is in
effect, and we could see upwards of 1 foot of new snow between tonight and
tomorrow night. It is a strong pacific
storm, bringing in some fierce winds in the 20’s today from the S-SW and
shifting to the NW after tomorrow nights frontal passage but bumping up into
the 30’s. Temperatures should stay near
30 until the front, and then don’t forget your mittens! Some cold air will be coming our way, and
the weather should stay unstable for a few days.
Avalanche Conditions:
Today’s story is the strong S-SW winds, but until the new snow
starts to fly, I don’t expect too many new slabs to form, as the sunny aspects
are quite crusted over. For today, you
still may be able to find a pocket of instability on steep NE-NW aspects at or
above treeline, where the danger is MODERATE; especially if you find a pocket of recently loaded snow. Everywhere else the danger is LOW.
The danger will stay this way until the snow starts to fly, and once we
see a few inches of accumulation, it should bump up to CONSIDERABLE.
Watch the weather, this may happen by tonight or tomorrow morning. Hopefully our SNOTEL site will be up and
running by then!
Nordic and Skate Skiing:
The Tag-a-Long snow cat was up on the road to Geyser Pass
yesterday and groomed it beautifully for all to enjoy, so get out there and
skate before the new snow starts to fly!
Public Announcements:
We still need volunteers and observers! Call us at the office for more info, 259-7155 for more info, or
636-3363 after hours. Get ready for our
avalanche awareness courses coming in January.
Check the education page for a course near you.
Word of the Day:
Leeward sides: Not knowing this term could make you wonder where the snow would end up during a wind event. There are two areas, the windward and the leeward sides of mountains. The windward side faces where the wind is coming from, the leeward side is the opposite. The wind picks up snow on the windward slopes, also known as “fetch areas”, and deposits them on the leeward side. If the wind is coming from the South, expect Northerly aspects to have wind loading.