Avalanche forecast

Moab

Utah Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

  • Alpine
  • Treeline
  • Below treeline
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Out of date — this forecast expired 5 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

The avalanche danger is generally LOW. As the day heats up monitor the snowpack for changing conditions and look for signs of instability such as rollerballs, pinwheels, and sloppy unsupportable snow. To avoid wet snow avalanche hazards, work slopes according to their aspect in relation to the sun and get off of and out from under steep slopes as they become wet and sloppy.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    2

    Successive nights with below freezing temperatures have helped to lock up the snowpack and wet snow avalanche activity is on the decrease. As the day heats up however, these are the problems to look out for:

    Loose Wet Avalanches:

    Be on the lookout for loose wet avalanches as the day heats up. Signs of instability include rollerballs, pinwheels, and "point release" sluffs that fan out and gather more snow as they travel down the slope. Timing is everything this time of year. Work slopes according to their aspect in relation to the sun and get off of steep slopes as they become wet and sloppy.

    Wet Slabs:

    Record temps and light to no overnight re-freezes last weekend produced large wet slab avalanches. Wet slabs release when melt water saturates a layer in the snowpack and the over riding slab fails as a cohesive layer. These avalanches are harder to predict than loose wet, and outward signs of this type of problem are not obvious but sloppy, wet, or punchy snow indicates that the pack is trending towards unstable. Avoid thin shallow rocky areas and terrain under cliffs, especially if the snow is becoming wet and sloppy.

Special Announcement

Sunday, April 11 will be our last regularly scheduled forecast.

The Geyser Pass Road is melted down to the dirt up to the parking lot.

The Lower Utah Nordic Alliance is through grooming for the season.

Recent Activity

This large wet slab avalanche occurred high in Gold Basin last Sunday. It failed on weak faceted snow near the ground as a result of percolating melt-water. Extreme heat and a lack of overnight re-freezes contributed to the failure. Freezing temperatures at night this week have helped to lock up the snowpack and triggering this type of avalanche is now unlikely, but avoiding steep slopes when the snow becomes wet and sloppy remains a good idea.

Mark White photo.

Snow and Weather

24 Hour Snow 0" 72 Hour Snow 0" Base Depth in Gold Basin 48" Wind NW 15-20 Temp 21F

Overnight freezes and daytime high temps mean everything right now. Get current and past 24-hour readings from these real-time weather links.

Wind, temperature, humidity on Pre Laurel Peak (11,700')

SNOTEL site near Geyser Pass Trailhead (9600')

Storm totals and temperatures at the Gold Basin study plot (10,000')

NWS Weather Forecast

Snowpack Discussion

Successive nights with below-freezing temps have helped to lock up the snowpack and we've moved into a decent corn cycle on SE-W aspects. South facing lines are melting out fast, however. The extreme heat last weekend lumped up the surface a bit and it's not as smooth as it was but we found decent corn skiing Thursday between about 11,700' and 10,200'. Look for things to soften between 10:00 and 1:00 depending on the aspect. Once the crust becomes unsupportable and the snow starts to get sloppy, it's time to call it a day as the danger for loose wet, or even wet slab avalanches will start to develop.

North aspects remain in transition and conditions are variable ranging from hard, wind-packed, and frozen boilerplate, to crusted over with occasional pockets of dry powder-like snow. Weak, sugary, faceted snow still exists near the ground, especially at higher elevations and it may still be possible to trigger an avalanche on this weak layer. Slopes with steep convexities and rocky, more radical terrain are where you are most likely to trigger an avalanche failing on this weak, faceted snow.

General Announcements

This forecast is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

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