US Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest

Introduction: Good morning! This is Max Forgensi with the USFS Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center with your avalanche and mountain weather advisory. Today is Sunday, December 4th at 8:00 a.m. This advisory will expire in 24 hours.

Mark your calendars! On Monday, December 5^th at the Grand County SAR shed, the Winter Search and Rescue team will be hosting a ski swap from 6-8 p.m. Bring any winter gear that you want to swap and your checkbook. 10% of the proceeds will go to the Friends of the Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center.

It will be held across from the M.A.R.C. at the SAR shed. See you there!

To see past advisories check out the ARCHIVE. To see current conditions go to our WEATHER PAGE. To see photos go to the AVIPHOTOS page.

General Conditions:

Welcome to the first dose of cold winter weather up in the La Sals! 8” of snow fell on the mountains on Friday night and currently the temperature is 3 degrees at the Geyser Pass Trailhead. The new snow will help the coverage, although your best bet for exercise will be in the form of Nordic Skiing. A few folks are venturing out to fix the weather station today, a better report of backcountry skiing conditions will be available tomorrow. The road to the trailhead is snow packed, 4WD and chains are recommended.

Current Conditions: (click location for latest data)

Geyser Pass Trailhead (9,600’): 7.80” at the SNOTEL. 3 degrees at the trailhead at 6:00 a.m.

Gold Basin and South Mountain: 16” of settled snow on the ground.

Pre-Laurel Peak Weather Station (11,705’): The weather station is getting a facelift; new radios, antennas and all the instrumentation has been recalibrated. You can thank the Friends of the Manti-La Sal Avalanche Center for this one. Expect the weather station to be up and running in early December.

Mountain Weather: (At 10,500’)

Today: Scattered snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high around 23. Wind chill values between -2 and -12. Blustery, with a northwest wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 0. Wind chill values between -7 and -17. Northwest wind around 15 mph.
Monday: Partly cloudy, with a high near 23. Wind chill values between -7 and -17. Northwest wind around 15 mph.

Avalanche Conditions:

8” of new snow at the trailhead means there could be more up higher to move around and create wind slabs, although the wind has been constant out of the Northwest, now depositing snow on E-S aspects. Before this storm there wasn’t much snow on these aspects so the avalanche danger will be limited. Our biggest concern for today and into the foreseeable future will be those steep slopes at or above treeline on E-NW aspects. This is where that weak, rotten, faceted snow has been hiding out through our 3 weeks of seemingly unending high pressure. This depth-hoar can and most definitely will fail once there is a significant load deposited on top of them. My feeling is we just haven’t had enough snow to have any real natural activity. The Bottom line for today is going to be MODERATE on those steep, upper elevation Northerly aspects. Any avalanche activity will be localized and be small avalanches that can still be dangerous to anyone caught in them. Rocks, cliffs and trees hurt! The rest of the range will be LOW.